At GemLife, many of our residents put the power of kindness into action every day in ways big and small, helping their neighbours and friends within their communities.
This month, in the first of our 2021 tributes to kindness, GemLife Highfields resident Jan Ting, nominated her neighbour and dedicated line dancing instructor, Shirley Hyde, for her generosity and kindness in helping the community improve their dance moves.
Shirley, a former competitive ballroom dancer of 20 years, has been running line dancing practise sessions at the country club to give both herself and her fellow line dancers an opportunity to master their new moves.
“I nominated Shirley Hyde for the amount of time she gives up in helping us ladies to learn line dancing,” said Jan.
“We get lessons every week that we pay for but Shirley, out of kindness, learns and practises herself and puts all of the music on her phone, bought a speaker, and then comes every week without fail to the country club to help us all practice,” said Jan.
“Without Shirley, I am sure we wouldn’t have found line dancing so entertaining and interesting.”
Shirley said that after joining the Friday line dancing group in 2019, a dance type new to her, she realised that she and her classmates needed extra practise.
“I managed to pick-up most of the steps pretty quickly because of their similarity to ballroom steps and offered to do practise sessions,” she said.
“It’s such good fun, and my classmates have gone from ‘no way’ to ‘bring it on’! They’re a great bunch of girls.”
Jan said she and her classmates appreciated Shirley’s patience.
“When we don’t understand, she is incredibly patient, talking out each of the steps which helps us all immensely,” added Jan.
Join the fun! The line dancing crew wants new members, including men. Contact Shirley on [email protected] for more information.