First ever DanceStack

How it went, and the behind the scenes..

I was approached by Amy I Beeson 🐝 creator of some incredible Substack live events, to produce something which was discussed at her last meet up - (not so subtle plug, please go and pledge to her WriteUp event asap! She’s only got a few days left to make the total.pledge here!) And a conversation about Claire Venus ✨ Substack creative queen coming back from seeing the actual Queen Bey in Paris, via London, left us with the idea of a Cowboy Carter themed event.

Everyone arrived from far and wide, I honestly have never had people travel so far for one of my classes before. Louise Morris “Today I travelled the furthest I ever have for a dance class. But oh my, was it worth it!” I knew the room was full of people not from London given how ‘dance’ was pronounced in such a varied way! Less ‘daaance’ and more ‘dance’. Hands up if you read the second one in a Northern accent. Haha.

I was so impressed, everyone was so enthusiastic, eager to learn and well dressed in their cowgirl outfits. We started with some confidence building exercises before moving onto the main routine - Texas Holdem, which is now available as a tutorial on my paid subscription if you missed out (if you’re in financial difficulty, can you drop me a message, I want to ensure we reduce the barriers to people who want to dance!).

The ladies (and Paul), did a fantastic job!! They nailed the routine so fast, we even had time for small groups!

Victoria Leslie wrote “Nirja you are an absolute legend - I can’t believe you created all of this magic for us IN YOUR LUNCH BREAK!! his was the most fun mindfulness activity I think I’ve ever tried. No way to ruminate on to do lists unfinished, or any of the other stresses of life when you’re concentrating on making your body and brain work in sync to do the dance steps. Thanks for being such a brilliant teacher”

The behind the glossy exterior

Now, as you may know, I am a practising doctor as well as a dance teacher. When this excellent idea was suggested, the date given to me could not have proven more tricky. I wanted so badly to make it work, but the moving parts of clinical commitments were not playing ball. Thankfully, the morning was ok and hence the workshop went without a hitch. However, clinic thereafter is what we would call a small disaster. I arrived, early, to have a moment to eat some lunch and ready myself for the afternoon, but when I arrived after my lovely tube journey with Emma Simpson , I was greeted by “OH, Thank GOD you’re here!”. I was immediately met with a sigh of relief, which only meant, things weren’t good. The clinic was scheduled for the wrong time, and patients had been waiting over an hour for my arrival. The computer didn’t work. Neither did the equipment. Standard day in the NHS, but my emotional reserve was low as well as my blood sugar. However, I took a breath, saw a message from a friend telling me I can do anything, and just.. started consulting. Reception were shocked, as was I, that I was able to clear that list. But the funny thing about being a doctor and a dance teacher, is when you’ve just taught a room of people that they can do anything that seems impossible, and then you’re met with the same issue, you realise - you can do it too.

What does the future hold?

I had the best time, and I think we should do it again, and make it longer so that people can enjoy and relax even more. I’m thinking mid August, weekday or weekend? 90 mins, brunch, 80s/90s themed? I’d be keen to know what people think so please comment.

In the meanwhile, the paid subscription is there to quench your dance thirst! And we have one more in person class next week if anyone would like to come.

Thank you so much to Amy I Beeson 🐝 Claire Venus ✨ Emma Simpson Emily Heather Cheryl Tissot 🌿 Lyndsay Kaldor Georgina Pearson Holly Bailie (she/her) Jessica Emmett Kendall Marie Platt 🌱 Louise Morris Vicki Lesley