Sadly I don’t dance anymore which is a shame but if I could I would be. I have so many songs on my iPod that I listen to and choreograph dances in my head and I wish I had a space to put them into practice.
How I started dancing
When I was little I used to go to Irish Dance classes and I got up to the point where I was able to dance in the shoe rather than the flats. I fell over in the shoes and fell flat on my face so I stopped going.
I then found Chart Toppers at my local leisure centre and that was a more pop/street dance, we didn’t do any shows we would just learn routines and it was great because I made friends and enjoyed learning new routines from all the current chart music.
I got older and left Chart Toppers and I found Feet First, which I joined in 2005 and was there till 2014. I started doing Stage Dance at first, so we would learn the material and would perform two shows. One show was a smaller one at my local high school and then there was a bigger performance at the Queens Hall in Hexham. I loved doing Stage that I decided to go to Street and Contemporary as well, so that was a lot of dances to learn but it was such a buzz.
How it made me feel
Like I said it was such a buzz, having put in all that work during rehearsal to then showing it to an audience felt amazing. I loved being on a stage and rushing from green room to stage and getting in and out of costumes to get back on stage again, I loved it.
Not only that but it was the rehearsal as well, I would come to dance after a stressful day at school and dance acted as a release, a form of self-expression if you will- just to get all of the negative energy out my system.
Why I don’t dance now
Now I don’t have that physical release I find myself getting tense and stressed and shouty which I don’t like.
The reason behind myself not dancing is because Feet First stopped when you are 18. I could not find a local dance class and most of them are now in Newcastle or Sunderland which is a bit of a mare to get to on the bus.
Like I said at the start I would love to find a creative space again to create and choreograph and just to dance freely.
Gemma's Journey 