Dance Yourself Happy - exercise in disguise

Lindsay Upton from Manukau East Council of Social Services (MECOSS)

Dance Yourself Happy is FREE to attend and operates out of the All Saints’ Community Centre, 30 Cook Street, Howick, on Wednesday nights from 8:00pm till 9:00pm. (The same location that the Howick Craft Market is held on Saturday’s and opposite Subway and the Barrel Inn).
Lindsay Upton has just finished dancing with 25 strangers in the darkness of a hired church hall.
With the windows covered over to keep out street lighting,
Lindsay can barely see her fellow dancers except through the ambience of a colourful flashing disco light as they all get lost in the music at the alcohol-free gathering, in Howick, Auckland.
Lindsay, 58 says she is normally too shy to dance in public but that it is much easier to go for it when she knows that no-one is watching.
"There is no judgement, or need to feel uncomfortable," she says. "It was a great space to let loose.
Lindsay is one of thousands of people around the world who now meet regularly to dance together in near darkness .
It is part of a growing change in the world of get-fit classes for men,women and children away from the formality of mirror-lined exercise studios, and pressures to get your moves correct and in time with everyone else.
Instead the emphasis is increasingly on unstructured fun, not taking yourself seriously, and the freedom to dance without any concern about how you look, or whether you should be losing any weight.
As the old saying goes, "dance like no-one is watching". That was what Mari Pettersson, had in mind when in 2016 she started Dance Yourself Happy based on a format by No Lights No Lycra.
"I was just tired of going to dance classes and trying to move the way everyone else was moving, and constantly being critical of myself," says Mari.
"People want to enjoy that freedom of moving just because it feels good, not because you look great."
A 2013 report said the fitness industry needed to cater more for people who had rejected the health clubs in favour of exercise regimes that place an emphasis on music and community relationships.
That was another motivation, adds Mari, who says that participants don't have "to take themselves too seriously".
While just eight people attended the first Dance Yourself Happy session, within two months numbers are steadily increasing.
Simone Toft decided to workout at Dance Yourself Happy after she learned that women family members had particularly high levels of obesity and heart disease.
Alice Mattsson says, "for me, it has become about more than just a dance class," and says further, "It’s become about teaching women that it is okay to have curves, to feel powerful about the way that you stand with your body."
Mari's observation from the dias is that " a number of men come too and do not feel out of place, but at this stage it seems to attract more females for some reason."
Liz Brackeridge adds that she thinks the rise of popularity for classes like Dance Yourself Happy was "one of those zeitgeist things". She says like-minded people became tired of feeling like they "couldn't dance because we weren't a certain body shape, that we didn't have a certain technique, or do ballet".
"There's an increasing appetite for unique dance classes as people want to feel they're upping their skills and feeling great," adds Lindsay. "It's exciting, it is like nothing they've done before."