A mum-of-two has shared how a dance class has helped change her life. 

Kate Denning from Fordingbridge started attending a dancefit class at Downton Leisure Centre just before Christmas and said “it has changed my life in a way”.

The 55-year-old said: “A friend recommended it and I had done fitness classes and just kind of gone off them over the years, and she just used the word joy and I thought that sounds good.

“And sure enough it really is.”

She contacted the Journal to sing the praises of fitness instructor Joshua Young, known as Joshie, whose class helped her feel ‘free’.  

She said: “The way he dances is so incredible and his moves are just so much fun.

“It’s like being a kid again, that absolute freedom whilst not being weird. I feel like an idiot but I grin from start to finish.

“Every week everyone seems to leave the class feeling like I do – absolutely brimming with life.”

Joshie has been running classes in Salisbury, including at The Chapel nightclub, as well as surrounding areas like Downton and Andover for nine years.

During an average week he runs around 26 classes ranging from yoga and dance to spin and aqua fit. 

On what brought him to dance and fitness, the 36-year-old said: “The joy of working out with other people and the atmosphere you get when you’re in a group fitness class is like nothing else.

“Everybody’s in there together and you get to forget about what’s going on in your life, and you just have fun for an hour. 

“If it’s a dance class, you let yourself be completely free, and that’s what drew me into it.”

Joshie went to St Martin’s Primary school and Sarum Academy, and describes himself as ‘born and raised’ in Salisbury. 

He never gained professional dance qualifications, but this was something he came across later in life and is spreading his newfound joy to others.

He said: “I’m quite silly and out there in my classes and make a fool of myself, and I don’t care. 

“I actually wasn’t very confident when I was younger, but it’s something about being in the room - and everybody is doing the same thing, it’s really incredible.

“You can actually touch people’s lives without actually realising it. I feel very blessed to be able to do what I do.”

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