DANZ QUARTERLY No 7 April 2007
‘E’ Exerdance – Getting Women off the Couch
By Francesca Horsley
When Elizabeth Robinson became bored at home after giving up a 30 year career teaching dance, she decided to develop something new. The result was the ‘E’ Exerdance Programme – an exercise dance programme for adults.
Originally designed for overweight people to loose weight in a fun and non-threatening environment, it has now become popular for Cantabrian women of all shapes and sizes to keep fit and is the only one of its kind in NZ.
The inspiration came when Elizabeth remarked to her GP that she was thinking of writing a dance programme for diabetics. In her 50th year as an insulin dependant diabetic, she credits her own good health from a lifelong involvement in dance. Her GP replied “what we really need is a programme for people who are overweight.”
But now the basis of the programme is to get middle-aged women off the couch, especially women in their 30s to 60s. “You often find older women in walking groups, for example if they are retired; but the difficulty is that women who have brought up a family are used to devoting time to everybody else, with never any for themselves. They have got out of the habit of exercise, getting them motivated is a problem. My own groups range from a very young 30 and my oldest is 74 – and they all love it.”
It took her three years to write and the course material is drawn from the Modern and Jazz syllabii she taught for many years, as well as from her considerable experience with dance and theatrical productions. It has a four step programme, the basics of dance, strengthening of the feet and body, learning to walk, stand and breathe properly. Students then progress to learning dances, with a focus on correct teaching to ensure the possibility of injury is remote. There is an internal exam at the end of every year, where graduates receive a certificate, before moving to the next level.
Exerdance has been accredited by SPARC, and is on their green prescription list, and Elizabeth has had referrals from them. She has also demonstrated to the arthritis and diabetes societies, as well as the rehabilitation unit at Christchurch Hospital. “One of my ladies in a class is recovering from a heart attack. She had hospital rehabilitation, but wanted something with a little more energy. She has been with me a year now and her specialist says she is improving greatly.”
Elizabeth says “I spent a considerable amount of time working out the steps for older people, people who are heavy. If you are fairly heavy you can’t touch your toe, so it is no good giving something unsuitable. Also people with a bit of excess weight tend to loose their confidence, they come in quite timid and it is lovely to see them blossom and get their confidence. Most of them are very good – heavy people are often very light on their feet.”
The programme is very flexible “If you are younger you can push it, jump and do various steps, but an older woman may not be able to do a gallop with a jump, so I adjust it to a chassé or something similar. One or two of the ladies have touches of arthritis and can’t move their ankles quite as much as you would like, but they try hard.”
“I thoroughly enjoy teaching these ladies. I have an accountant, a stock broker, two nurses, a dental nurse, retired people, one lady is a crafts person, another one used to cook on the big sailing vessels, there are market gardeners, people who run horse treks.”
Elizabeth likes to keep the classes small, with an average of 10 people, so she can make sure they do everything correctly. At present she is holding four classes a week, two in Rangiora, on the outskirts of Christchurch and two in central Christchurch. She is also hoping to open a class in the suburb of New Brighton.
“It is really to keep fit and prevent future problems; I try not to lean on them. They come along and meet nice, friendly people; there have been quite a few friendships struck up through the classes. But I want to emphasise that it is not for a coffee and a gossip; it is a formal class and they are expected to do their best and work hard.”
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