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NEW YEAR'S RESOLUTIONS
* Eat well Not only is the organic food on sale at Scotland's farmers markets very, very good for you. it's locally produced. which means less of an effect on the environment. So you get to be doubly pleased with yourself. Farmers markets, Edinburgh and G/asgow, every Saturday. * Get some exercise Dance classes a bit easy? Trot off the turkey at the Great Winter Run and put some pink back in your cheeks. Ho/yrood Park, Edinburgh, Sat 73 Jan. * Just calm down Stop stressing and relax a little. The Glasgow Buddhist Centre offers courses in meditation. detoxing your heart and coping with anxiety. Glasgow Buddhist Centre, from Sat 73 Jan.
* Take up a useful hobby If knitting is the new rock & roll then the woolly sock is a good steady baseline. Big Knit Out‘s new series of classes in sock knitting can give you the skillz. but we think you have to bring your own needles. North Star, Glasgow, from Mon 75 Dec.
Kirstin Innes finds a commitment-free way of fulfilling the First Commandment of new year resolutions: Thou shalt exercise.
‘ ny'one want to guess who that musician was'.’ Yous‘ll he so surprised. . . l)i/./y (iillespie? That was recorded in No].
would y‘is helieye it‘."
We‘ye just heen spinning to last. l‘unk-edged hroken heat: so there are sortie conl‘used looks. yes. 0111‘ teacher Wallace switches to the Quantic Soul Orchestra with a quick crash course in their recent gigging history. l‘y'e neyer heen to a hip hop dance class hel‘ore. hut I imagine the holt-on musical education doesn‘t come as standard. This is 'l‘urn [‘p and Hip Hop. part ol‘ the Turn l‘p and Dance programme at lidinhurgh‘s Dancehase. The classes run weekly. hut ctlstomers are encouraged to pay as they go and drop in and otlt ol‘ sessions as it suits them. life ol‘ten isn‘t that straightl‘orward -- you don‘t know what you‘re going to he doing eyery week.‘ says director .\lorag l)eyes. who came up with the idea al‘ter potential customers mentioned being
put off hy haying to pay for a whole term‘s worth ol‘
lessons. ‘l’eople need to ice] that they can relax and haye a laugh here. It‘s not ahout perl‘ecting a technique. or dancing competitiyely.‘ Wallace hacks her up. long as you‘re enjoying it. I don‘t giye a monkey‘s it you rememher the steps.‘
Sweating and lurching ahout the floor. I‘m thankful for that. I‘m ('.\‘('(’//(’III at the first hit llunge right- lunge—right-grah your heel-repeat) hut then the moy'ements kind ol‘ escape me. I end up wriggling my hips like one ol‘ those l‘aintly ohsccne kids you Used to gel on .ll/‘ni/m/is. right no. shit. lel‘t l‘oot alol‘t and turn. liyeryone else in the class is on a completely different step. hut some moth—eaten endorphins in my hrain haye woken up and I‘m haying a hrilliant time.
The morning after my hip hop odyssey l was hack in studio I. lidinhurgh (‘astle outlined golden against the sky through a slanting glass ceiling. The building was designed purposely as a dance studio. and it‘s enoi‘inously pleasant just to he in. Morag explains later that she wanted each studio to keep a connection to the outside world.
Barel‘oot Ballet proyes a hit more ol‘ a challenge l‘or someone whose last pirouette occurred in a lusty hall in l"ountainhridge in I985. l rememher what first position is (pretty toes. yes'.’). but l‘il‘th'.’ l‘m disadyantaged by coming in right at the end ol‘ term eyeryone else at least has the right terminology. Nonetheless. after some no—nonsense coaxing. my leg del‘ics hiology to extend higher than I helieyed was possihle. and I don‘t rupture anything.
liach term is structured around classes the tutors want to teach. so the centre is currently ol‘l‘ering courses in eyerything l‘rom hreakdance to traditional West African ritual moyement to \‘ogueing. ‘l loye that idiosyncrasy.‘ says .\lorag with a grin. She asks me how I‘m going to write up the article. and I explain that the angle is l‘resh starts. New Year‘s resolutions. She patises for a second. ‘Yes. hut there‘s nothing new ahout feeling good when you‘re dancing. Bahies get pleasure out ol‘ dancing hel‘ore they learn to walk. It‘s really just reconnecting with some fundamental sense ot‘ rhythm we‘ye always had.’ Walking out into the (irassmarket with a hig lat i‘unked-up grin plastered all oyer my face. I‘m inclined to agree with her.
Term starts Wed 10 Jan, Dancebase, Grassmarket, Edinburgh, 0131 225 5525, www.dancebase.co.uk
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