Come Dance with Me

Two years ago, at the age of 72, Diana Melly took up ballroom dancing. She was suffering from bereavement, having recently lost her husband George to dementia, and was told that dancing might help.It has done much more than that, opening up a whole new chapter in her life. It turns out that ballroom dancing is incredibly good for you. A complex activity which not only flexes unexpected muscles but rewires the cerebral cortex and hippocampus, it increases your serotonin levels and reduces stress. A recent study in America found that the only physical activity to offer protection against dementia was frequent dancing.In this delightful book, Diana Melly explores the physical and mental rewards of dancing, and explains the technical side of it. We meet her new circle of friends: Gwen, who is in her sixties but looks 45, and works as a volunteer in a battered wives' refuge home; Scotty, who was given that nickname because after being bombed in the Blitz he was evacuated...