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So you think you CAN'T dance? Well, you may be right - but it's more likely you're wrong. Dancing is a basic human activity that mankind has enjoyed since earliest times. And you won't find many toddlers who say they can't dance. All you have to do is learn not to get uptight about dancing!

Of course, that's easier said than done but it's certainly true that for a lot of people, it's not ability that stops them dancing. Learning dance steps and getting them wrong is a very public affair - you feel an idiot in front of a whole classful of people. It may be worth having a private lesson or two, to see if being able to learn away from watchful eyes makes a difference!

We've all heard about sportsmen using positive thinking to improve their performance imagining they can make a shot will help them achieve it. In the same way, it helps to believe you can dance. Saying "I can't do it" just guarantees that you can't! You also have to understand that as we grow up, we learn set ways of moving. They're not the only ways of moving, but your brain thinks they are. It will take time for your brain to register that these new-fangled movements are OK, and to work out how to do them comfortably. Be patient with yourself!

General physical fitness is another possible obstacle. If you're an adult who hasn't done much exercise, the stiffness of your body may hinder your attempts to master dance movements. It's even possible to be too fit! Flexibility is essential for dancing, and flexibility and strength are opposites - so a big, strong football player, no matter how fit he is, will have trouble achieving some moves at first. Stretching exercises or yoga will help loosen you up, which will make everything feel easier.

Possibly the biggest problem is rhythm. It's a myth to say that a sense of rhythm is something you're either born with, or you're not. Rhythm is something we learn, mostly unconsciously, as we grow up.

I had a lesson in this when I took up flamenco. I had always had an excellent sense of rhythm. I was always right on the beat, I could identify the start of a phrase without thinking, and I could pick up in the middle of a number on the right note. But that was dancing to British and American music with 3/4 and 4/4 time signatures. Faced with 12-beat flamenco rhythms, I was completely lost! I realised my rhythm wasn't natural or inborn at all. I had to learn those flamenco rhythms over time, and it was hard work!

So if you feel you have no rhythm, don't just give up. Listen

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