Dancing Diary: Harcourts Dancing for Hospice week six

Rotorua Daily Post's Laura Smith is taking part in this year's Harcourts Dancing for Hospice.

Rotorua Daily Post reporter Laura Smith is taking part in this year’s Harcourts Dancing for Hospice. She shares her thoughts in the build-up to the August 17 event.

OPINION

The best thing about having such a random bunch of strangers come together and learn how to dance is the number of laughs we have together while doing something that can be a little stressful.

This past Wednesday was such a good time.

With the Westbrook School hall booked out for the evening, most of us headed along for a low-instensity run-through of our routines.

Fish and chips (with tomato sauce, thanks Holly), a good stereo and the dancefloor were all we needed; a real wholesome time.

We took turns waltzing, quick-stepping, tango-ing and cha-cha-cha-ing around the floor, admiring how far each of the couples have come and laughing at ourselves in the parts we stuff up.

Some were closer to breaking bones than others, but well-placed mats softened the less well-placed landings.

As much a social time as a time for practise, we had plenty of giggles along with the learning.

We are all getting pretty comfortable with each other and our personalities are shining through more strongly.

It’s such a diverse bunch of people and it makes it so enjoyable. I’m already sad knowing it will end at some point.

This author is taking part in Harcourts Dancing for Hospice outside her salaried hours. NZME is a sponsor of the charity event and any content by the Local Democracy Reporter is done in her own time.

Laura Smith is a Local Democracy Reporting journalist based at the Rotorua Daily Post. She previously reported general news for the Otago Daily Times and Southland Express, and has been a journalist for four years.