Summer Flings and Dancing Dreams (26 page)

‘
W
hat’s
the weather like outside?’ I ask.

‘Cold, windy,’ she smiles.

‘Do you have a loyalty card?’

‘No... I’ve not been here before,’ the woman says. ‘My name’s Tammy Lawson.’

‘Well Tammy, welcome to “Tony and Lola’s”. Come on through, there are forms to fill in and you will be given a Tony and Lola’s Dance School loyalty card. You get dance points each time you attend and when you’ve collected ten points we give you a free class.’ My supermarket training finally came in useful for something.

‘Let me show you round, our class is in the other studio,’ I say, walking with her to the studio where Tony is teaching ‘Basic Ballroom’. He waves and blows us both a kiss. ‘I started dancing about 18 months ago,’ I explain, ‘it’s changed my life.’

The woman looks at me a little doubtfully. ‘I saw you online, I imagined you’d been dancing for years.’

‘Yeah, it feels like I have,’ I smile, thinking of how a throwaway comment from my daughter about my ‘little life’ had started all this. I’d known I had to do something, but I didn’t know what it was until I found Mum’s dresses and the letter from my dad. It was remembering my parents’ glitter and wanting a handful of my own, then meeting Tony that had given me the direction I needed.

Tony put the fire in my belly and the sparkle in my steps... then it was Juan who finally helped me let go. And even though it was over before it started, and I’d covered him in olive oil on a pavement cafe - he would always be a warm Spanish memory on cold English days.

Since joining Tony’s Dance Class, I’ve danced under a Spanish moon, stomped under the glitterball in Blackpool and become an overnight internet sensation (over ten million hits on my flamenco and still counting – that’s viral, baby!).

‘Yes a lot’s happened since I started dancing,’ I say, thinking how much more I still had ahead of me. Tony and Lola’s opened after Christmas, we are jam-packed every lesson, and next month Tony and I enter our Argentine Tango for the first time at the big Blackpool Competition. Whoever would have thought all this was possible for a forty-something checkout girl. I didn’t.

‘What’s your secret?’ Tammy asks. I’ve been asked this so many times since I’ve become ‘famous’.

‘It’s no secret. I just started dancing, stopped saying “no” to everything and found a “bigger” life. I’ve given up my day job, and now I work here at our school teaching dance, which is wonderful, my dream. I’m actually living the dream,’ I laugh. ‘My mum also helps out with the performance side every Monday night and my daughter Sophie who’s just come back from travelling and about to get married is a student in two of our classes. And then of course there’s Tony, my dance husband – the only kind a girl needs,’ I laugh.

‘I’ve always dreamed of being a dancer, but I’m forty-seven, and until I saw you I thought I was too old.’

I shake my head vigorously. ‘You are never too old.’

‘Sorry, I just feel so nervous,’ she smiles apologetically, her shoulders slump. She’s a little overweight and lacking in confidence like I used to be and I know exactly how she’s feeling. Life has rubbed off her sparkle.

‘I saw you and just thought “I want to be like her”... but I’ll never be as good as you, I can’t even dance.’

‘First of all – stop saying “I can’t” because, trust me, you can.’

I gesture for her to walk towards one of the studio’s full-length mirrors with me where we stand side by side looking at ourselves.

‘Straighten up like this... and imagine the top of your head has a thread coming from it reaching the ceiling. Now lift up your arms,’ I lift my arms high with a wrist curl and she copies me uncertainly.

‘Now watch yourself in the mirror,’ I say. ‘I bet you don’t look at yourself in the mirror very often, do you?’

‘Never,’ she says, going slightly pink.

‘I never did either – I couldn’t stand the sight of myself, which is so sad isn’t it? But I do now, Tony says I think I’m bloody Beyoncé. And he’s right,’ I laugh. ‘I bloody do.’

Tammy laughs, standing awkwardly by the mirror, her arms up but not quite there yet, she just needs a little help. I position myself behind her and hold her waist, straightening her slightly, moving an arm and, voila, she is there.

‘Now, just take a look and tell me that girl can’t dance,’ I say.

She looks up, surprised to see her own straight back and confident, flamenco stance and she gasps. ‘Gosh I look better already.’

‘Yes, just the very act of lifting your arms is an instant body makeover,’ I say encouragingly. ‘Don’t be frightened to look at yourself and like what you see, it does more for your self-esteem than any man ever could.’

She rolls her eyes, I get the feeling she’s not had an easy time. ‘I just don’t know if I’ll be able to ever dance in front of anyone,’ she says, almost defeated before she’s begun.

I smile, and lead her confidently onto the studio floor. ‘I know you think I’m full of skill and confidence and nothing scares me, but I still have days when I’m not sure of myself, no one has all the answers. But I was just like you, Tammy, terrified of dancing in front of other people, until Tony gave me some wonderful advice. He said to dance like no one’s watching.’

She nods and smiles still not convinced of her potential, her strength, but I know it’s there. I can see it in her eyes.

I ask her to join in as I gather everyone together to begin the class. We go through the first, basic steps and I watch discreetly as Tammy and the other ladies try to master the movements. I know they feel foolish and self-conscious and I am whisked back to that cold, November night. I see that other Laura, who had no confidence, no life, no future – wearing somebody else’s leggings. And I just can’t believe how far she’s come.

Later, when we get into more rhythmic movements, I can see Tammy has talent. It’s in the way she moves her hips, the easy control she has over her body and that determined fire in her eyes. I reckon it’s only a matter of time before Tammy is dancing under that glitterball.

I have learned so much about me from dancing and I want to share this with other women. I want them to feel their strength and beauty, know they can be independent and talented, and it doesn’t matter about age or shape or past or present. With a lot of work, big determination and a little help from me – they will do it.

Sometimes when I see doubt in their eyes I want to yell at them not to put their dreams on hold, shout yes to today, and don’t wait until tomorrow. I learned this from my father, in a letter written many years ago telling me to shoot for the moon and dance under the stars – before they all go out.

T
hank
you so much for reading ‘Summer Flings and Dancing Dreams,’ I hope you enjoyed Laura’s Spanish adventure and are perhaps inspired to put on your dancing shoes and Flamenco round the living room? I hope so.

I have yet to leave the sofa to begin my own dancing career – but it’s never too late to tango, and who knows, one day any one of us could be like Laura and find ourselves wrapped round a hot Spanish dancer moving to the sound of Englebert Humperdinck!

Anyway, if you enjoyed the book I would love it if you can spare the time between tangos to write a quick review and tell your friends – it would mean such a lot to me – and Laura/Lola!

I’m now writing my next book and as always am missing the characters from this one. I envied Laura as she became firm and slim and gorgeous (something I will never do from my position on the sofa!) and I loved meeting up with Mandy, the beauty therapist from, ‘Love, Lies and Lemon Cake,’ again. But I particularly enjoyed spending time with Tony whose teasing humour and drama queen tendencies remind me of so many friends I’ve loved and laughed with over the years - there’s a little bit of all of them in Tony.

Anyway, if you’d like to know when my next book is released you can sign here:

I promise I won’t share your email address with anyone, and I’ll only send you a message when I have a new book out.

I would love for you to follow me on Facebook and please join me for a chat on Twitter... I’d really love to know what you think about the book and if it has inspired you to start dancing.

In the meantime, thanks again for reading, and if you happen to bump into a handsome Spanish guy who offers to write a poem for you - go with it. But take Laura’s advice, enjoy the now and forget the forevers...

Sue

x

• @suewatsonwriter
  
• SueWatsonBooks
  

L
ove
, Lies and Lemon Cake

Snow Angels, Secrets and Christmas Cake

Fat Girls and Fairy Cakes

Younger Thinner Blonder

T
his book wouldn’t exist
without the wonderful team at Bookouture. Thanks to Emily Ruston who provided the inspiration, added the spangles and tightened the bodice. Thanks also to Kim Nash for editorial olive oil, and sparkly marketing magic and Jade Craddock who pulled the choreography together brilliantly, and added the sequins! As always a special thank you to Oliver Rhodes, who guided me with his usual wisdom, brilliance and fabulous footwork.

Thank you and lots of cream cakes to Russel Minton, for his friendship, advice, expertise, afternoon teas - and for teaching me the Argentine Tango in New St Station. Thanks to Barbara McLaughlin whose amazing knowledge of Flamenco dancing and culture provided me with a wealth of material for Laura’s Spanish adventure and Flamenco passion. Thanks also to Patricia Skeet of
hebdenbridgeflamenco.org.uk
who shared with me her wonderful experiences of living a Flamenco life both in Spain and the UK. Thank you to the Escuela Carmen de las Cuevas, for allowing me to use their beautiful Flamenco school as a setting for the book.

Big thanks to my blogger friends and a special thank you to Anne John-Ligali at
booksandauthors.co.uk
for her support and ‘writer chats.’ And hugs and high fives to online BFF and ‘spectacular book homie’ - Katherine Everett at
bestcrimebooksandmore.co.uk

Thanks to friends and family especially Nick and Eve Watson for putting up with me and for always making me laugh – sometimes unintentionally!

Finally, a very special thank you to my Mum, Patricia Engert – a huge ‘Strictly Come Dancing’ fan who knows her Paso Doble from her Argentine Tango – and who was happy to demonstrate in the name of research!