Keep doing new things - a good motto for life

ON Monday evening last week you’d have found me in the small hall at South Wilts School, wandering up and down among a barefoot crowd, clapping and muttering, with a manic grin on my face.

What was I muttering? If you must know, it was that old Right Said Fred hit, I’m Too Sexy For My Shirt. It’s more than a bit sad at my age, isn’t it? Positively tragic.

But why on earth would I do that, I hear you ask?

Because that was the tune that the rhythm I was clapping brought to mind – as did watching the very charming young man running the workshop in which I was participating.

He was Brazilian Pedro Consorte, formerly a cast member of the long-running West End show Stomp, and he’d been roped in by choir leader Fiona Evans to impart a sense of rhythm to the mainly middle-aged members of two of her ensembles, Babes & Ballads and Guys No Dolls.

It was fun, and at times it was unintentionally funny, because it was clear that many of us were outside our normal comfort zone.

Some of the Guys in particular started out with sheepish looks on their faces as they were made to lie on the floor and meditate, yoga-style, visualising the various bits of their bodies, to chill out and get in tune with their inner selves. “I suppose it’s all right for those Latin types,’ I could imagine them thinking to themselves, ‘but it’s not terribly British.’

The Babes, in general, proved more amenable, though one or two looked resigned rather than relaxed.

Still, in the sweltering heat, they could console themselves that at least a nice lie-down was one way of keeping cool.

And when we stood up I think we were all in a different frame of mind, and astonished ourselves with our ability to take part in some amazing free-style harmonic improvisation without any self-consciousness.

We ended up creating the sounds of a tropical rainstorm by clapping and tapping our hands.

When the workshop came to an end everyone had a huge smile on their face. The whole thing was as unexpected as it was refreshing.

By the time you read this I’ll be on my way to Cornwall, where we’ll be singing at the Minack Theatre, St Michael’s Mount and Truro Cathedral, just for fun. And while we’re on tour we’ll be meeting a choir from Falmouth who are putting on a ceilidh for us.

Keep doing new things, that’s a good motto for life, I reckon.

Happy days.