Sunday Mirror
October 21, 2001

On Thursday, October 18th, I received a phone call from Angela Cooke, a researcher for the Sunday Mirror newspaper.

Angela said that the paper was compiling an article about various forms of dance and how they fit into the 'fitness equation' (my phrase here, not Angela's).

She apologised for the 'early phone call', although it was close to 11.00am. I said it was no problem as it was late morning to which Angela replied "I'm a Journalist, we don't do mornings!!!!". Fair enough I guess.

Anyway, we spoke about Line Dancing for close to ½ an hour and all the while I could hear Angela typing away in the background, boy was I impressed that she could listen, talk and type at the same time!

Angela said that the article was planned for the coming Sunday (20th, October) and that she didn't know how much column space the article would have, but that I'd probably get at least a line or two.

In the final event, the topic of Line Dancing got 3 column inches plus a 'generic' line dance photo. Not bad eh?

In the introduction to the whole article at the top of the page, it states that one study made concluded that Line Dancers can cover about 5 miles of dance floor in one evening. As a Line Dancer, I can say that that's probably not too bad an estimate (you'd be surprised - try fitting a pedometer for the evening and see how far you get - literally).

Anyway, I've applied to the Sunday Mirror for copyright permission so that I can reproduce their article, but as yet, I've had no luck. The gist of the article rather than the actual article is given instead.

Dance Cowboy Style

The article gave a brief insight into the origins of line dancing saying that it originated in America during the times of the Old West, and was performed by cowboys who wanted to dance but had no women to dance with. They simply formed lines and danced alone.

It went on to say that line dancing is basically quite easy to learn at a beginner's level comparing the pace of the activity to a brisk walk. Some of the basic step patterns were given i.e. twinkles and waltz boxes for Waltes, shuffles and apple-jacks for syncopated dances.

The article then went on to describe Line Dancing as being mildly aerobic, and gave some of the physical benefits of dancing as posture, strengthening the back and toning leg muscles.

I was quoted as saying: "Line dancing is perfect for singles and an excellent way to get some exercise into your life." This was true, but if I'd been quoted on everything I said during the ½ hour telephone conversation, I'd have taken up 2 to 3 pages of the paper!!!!

The Mirror then listed the pros and cons of Line Dancing as being good for those who are unfit because of it not being a particularly intensive activity with the down side being that you dance alone.

As a final piece of information, it seems that Linedancing burns up to 300 calories an hour.