The Hits Hawke's Bay: Tapping my way into happiness

Megan Banks' tap dance club at their recital.

OPINION

Be warned readers, this is one of those righteous 'get your bum off the couch and do something for you' type of columns from the world's biggest procrastinator, me!

Some of you might remember last year when Adam and I had a random conversation on the radio about something we loved doing as child that we don't do anymore.

I told the story about my brief stint as a 7-year-old tap dancer. Living rurally, we didn't get the chance to learn many things, but when a tap dancing teacher married a farmer and moved into the district, all of the young girls learned tap in our wool sheds, and we loved it!!

Unfortunately our tap teacher discovered that a farmer's life wasn't the life for her, and tapped off into the sunset.

After I talked about this, something pretty cool happened. Jennie, a lovely listener who has now become a friend, called the show and told me to come along with her to Dance Express.

That was a year and a half ago and I've been tapping ever since. We just had our end of year recital and on the way back home I was on such a high with not only the elation of not stuffing up too much of the dance in my sailor outfit, but more importantly, and the whole point of talking about it, the feeling that I was part of something that made me feel great.

I didn't know any of these ladies from a bar of soap, but after a year and a half, they and the dancing are a little burst of happiness for me each week.

As a group we have been through our ups and downs. We sadly lost a tap friend to cancer just recently. Sometimes we find it hard to make a class, sometimes we feel so stupid when we can't get the routine in our brain, we have good days and bad days.

But we have the support of an amazing teacher, Kerry, who encourages and inspires us at every lesson, and we have the support of each other.

We laugh a lot, and we dance. So find your group and join it. We all have something we love doing, or used to love but forgot.

Theatre, dancing, art classes, sport, cooking, there are many opportunities to meet new people and enrich your social connections for 2021!

And if you can't get your bum off the couch then choose a group that sits on the couch like book club or knitting, or even better start a Netflix club. Just do it with people!

- Megan Banks