DON'T TELL ME I CAN'T…...start an 80s gym class

Hebe Alloun only wanted to keep fit, have fun and dance to classic pop hits

- FIONA KINLOCH, LAURA WITHERS

Stepping into my leotard and leggings, I press Record on the video camera and start busting out retro dance moves in my studio. Over the next hour, I take myself through a vigorous, sweat-inducing workout, all the while beaming widely because I can’t quite believe that, at the age of 48, throwing shapes to my favorite songs has become ‘work’.

Having practiced ballet from age four, dance had always been a big part of my life. Growing up in the 80s, I loved dancing films like Flashdance and Fame and songs by disco queens like Whitney Houston and Madonna.

I married my husband, Jonathan, then 32, in 2007, and we had two children, in 2010 and 2012. As well as being a busy mum, I was a movement psychotherapist, working with mums and children in schools and social care to use movement to bring about positive change.