LINE dancing in the small Karoo dorp of Somerset East? You must be joking 5, 6,7, 8. However, it is no joke as line dancing was brought to town in 2015 by Antoinette Ah Yui, who initiated the LetzDans group.
Had it not been for the fact that Antoinette found herself in Port Elizabeth as financial accountant and raising her three boys while her husband, Keith, lived in Somerset East running the family business, this delightful and entertaining dance experience may not have happened at all.
While being “grasweduwee” and loving to dance, she joined various line dancing clubs, no partner needed, in Port Elizabeth in order to de-stress. She danced socially three times a week for nine years and then she proceeded to do grading before she returned to Somerset East.
Ah Yui started a line dance group in her playroom at home with two friends and since then the group has grown by leaps and bounds.
At present there are two groups under her wing – a young group and a more mature group, her “Golden Oldies”. They dance at the D.R. Church Hall where they dance on a Monday and Wednesday from 17:15 to 19:45 for an hour and a half twice a week.
Line dancing is one of the best methods of exercise where the whole body, mind and soul are utilised. It improves balance, spatial awareness, oils our joints and keeps Alzheimer’s at bay, as it stimulates the brain.
Dancers wear T-shirts with the club logo when participating in concerts. For other events they wear theme-related clothes.
Special line dancing shoes are worn for better movement especially when the dance involves more advanced steps and turns.
A comfortable pair of shoes or takkies is perfect to start with.
It is through one dance family connecting with another from different towns and cities that the LetzDans group has close connections with those in Port Elizabeth, Jeffreys Bay and Cape Town.
All these clubs hold regular socials throughout the year and they never think twice in joining each other’s events. In March they attended a national event, Boogie on the Beach, in George, with line dancers all over the country in attendance.
Ah Yui said, “The LetzDans dancers hold an annual social in November where dancers from various clubs join us and we dance the day away ending with a dinner at the local hotel.
“We are ambassadors for our town and help promote tourism by getting people to stay overnight on the day of our social by utilising our BnBs.”
The LetzDans line dance clubs follow the style and rules of the Country Western Dance of S.A. (CWDSA) and their dances are internationally choreographed so they can dance anywhere in the world.
Other events are the Masters, the S.A. Classic and the cherry on the top, the World’s Dance Competition held in Blackpool in England.
Ah Yui has the final move in words, “Put on those dancing shoes and dance like no one’s watching because it is with your feet that you move but with your heart that you dance.”