With my clumsiness and lack of co-ordination - I can fall off a flat shoe - it is amazing that I have any rhythm and panache for dance. As a young girl I studied ballet, tap and modern dance at the local dance school. The words " step, ball, change on the diagonal " still sends a shiver down my spine. The room upstairs at the YMCA had a wall of mirrors, an upright piano, a row of plastic seats and windows overlooking the park with the brightly decorated wall. The pianist was the dance teacher's mother and occasionally leapt up from the piano to show us a step sequence, frustrated that we couldn't grasp it quickly. She taught my mother. She always wore a swishy skirt and her feet were encased in the greek-style dance shoe. Her daughter, our regular teacher, wore plain tracksuit bottoms a plain t-shirt and footwear appropriate to the dance class. I loved every aspect of my dancing time; the learning, the discipline, the practice, the ex...