Xpress-Yourself Dance CIC January 2025 Newsletter

Hello and welcome to our January Newsletter,

This newsletter will update you on all things Keep Dancing.
    
Your continued support choosing to keep dancing with us every week is greatly appreciated. Should you ever have feedback about a piece of music or particular dance please always do get in touch.   

In this months Newsletter:

  • Keep Dancing January
  • Class Updates
  • Paying by Cheque Updates
  • Welcome Azélie Bourassa
  • Cervical Cancer Awareness Month
  • Are you scam aware?
  • Mental Health Support
  • Keeping In touch
  • Wish You Were Here
  • Resources for Carers
  • Reset Carers Programme
  • Keep Active – activities near you
  • Dates for your diary
  • EasyFundraising
  • Benefits of Disco Dancing for your Physical and Mental health
  • February’s Keep Dancing Dances

Keep Dancing January

Keep Dancing in January was all about returning to dance, keeping warm and strutting your stuff to Disco 🪩

Take a look at our superb disco divas from Keep Dancing for Carers 🪩
Keep Dancing Harborne at the end of the January Quickstep – superb clean lines 😍

Fancy having a boogie at home to Keep Dancing January’s tunes? Click here to access the playlist!

Dancing Queens of Garretts Green reaching for the stars ⭐
Keep Dancing Moseley preparing for the Quickstep 💃
Keep Dancing Marston Green showing us how to disco!!

Class Updates

As a reminder there were a few changes to Keep Dancing for Carers 2025:

Keep Dancing for carers online will now run on a Tuesday 9:30 am-10:30 am

Keep Dancing for carers at Shenley Court will now run on a Tuesday 11 am- 12 pm

Follow the link here to book your place.

From the 6th of February onwards Keep Dancing Marston Green will run at the slightly earlier time of 13:10-14:10, due to a change in bus timetable.

Paying by Cheque Updates

We have a little update on how to pay by cheque.

If you choose to pay by cheque, please can you ensure that cheques are sent in the post to this address PO BOX XPRESS YOURSELF to the session. Cheques will not be accepted at the class.

When paying by cheque we please request:

  • Cheques are made payable to Xpress-Yourself Dance CIC.
  • You write the dates you wish to attend on the back of the cheque. Please note that once the cheque has been received the dates you have booked are not transferable.
  • You write your address and telephone number on the back of the cheque.
  • As you do not book online, we will also need to be informed of an emergency contact number for you.

Please note the envelope will need a stamp.

Thank you for your support,

Welcome Azélie Bourassa

We would like to welcome Bourassa to the Xpress-Yourself Dance team as she takes over Keep Dancing Harborne from Faye. Azélie is already settling splendidly.

We decided to ask Azélie a few questions so we can get to know her better…

Favourite Style of Dance? – Contemporary

Favourite Movie? – Alita: Battle Angel

Favourite Holiday Destination? – Greece

Cervical Cancer Awareness Month

Each year, more than 3,200 women are diagnosed with cervical cancer in the UK

January is Cervical Cancer Awareness Month, dedicated to raising awareness about cervical cancer, its prevention, and early detection. This annual campaign aims to educate and empower people about the importance of regular cervical screenings and human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccinations.

There are two main types of cervical cancer.

  • The most common is squamous cell carcinoma. This develops from a type of cell that covers the outside of the cervix at the top of the vagina.
  • The other type is adenocarcinoma. This develops from a different type of cell found in the cervical canal (the endocervix).

For more information about cervical cancer, symptoms and signs visit the Macmillan website here.

For support for yourself or someone you know dealing with Cervical cancer Macmillan have a 24/7 online forum. You can anonymously share your feelings and experiences and find support from others who understand what you’re going through.

Join Here.

Are you scam aware?

Faye received these emails in her inbox. She opened it because it looked like a trusted email address. It probably was a trusted email address that has been hacked. Our email addresses can be hacked at any time and we know that this happened to some of our dancers.

If you were sent this email it could have been from a friend or family member. It might take you off guard. If you receive an email like from someone you know please always phone them to let them know that they email account has been hacked.

There are a number of precautions you can take to avoid becoming a victim of email hacking. To stay safe, you can read this article; 13 Steps To Keeping Your Email Safe and Secure

You can report suspicious emails by forwarding them to report@phishing.gov.uk, or if you receive an unusual text message you believe could be a scam you can forward it to the number 7726 for free.

If you believe you have been victim to a scam or fraud online, contact Action Fraud on 0300 123 2040, or you can report online here.

Visit here for more information on avoiding and reporting online scams.

Mental Health Support

If you need help for a mental health crisis or emergency, you should get immediate expert advice and assessment.

It’s important to know that support services are available for you to access, whatever you’re going through. You can get urgent Mental Health Support from 111 online or by calling 111 and selecting the mental health option. Alternatively you can ask for an urgent GP appointment.

111 will tell you the right place to get help. You may be able to speak to a trained mental health professional over the phone.

A GP can advise you about helpful treatments and also help you access mental health services. You may be able to refer yourself to some services.

Free listening services

These services offer confidential support from trained volunteers. You can talk about anything that’s troubling you, no matter how difficult:

Keeping in Touch

To avoid missing out on emails and important updates, please ensure both admin@xpress-yourself.co.uk and hello@xpress-yourself.co.uk are marked as safe email address. Additionally, make sure to always check your spam – just make sure the email address of the sender is one of the above.

Just a reminder that admin@xpress-yourself.co.uk office hours are Monday 8am-2pm and Thursday 8am-2pm.

Please ensure that you let us know of any changes of contact or emergency contact details.

Wish You Were Here

Fancy reminiscing on last years trips and wonderful memories?

We love sharing our dancers wish you were here pictures of them striking a pose in front of a famous landmark or special place that has meant something to them over the past year.

We’d love to see your photos! They will be shared on social media and in our monthly newsletter, providing a wonderful way for our new dancers to get to know our thriving community!

Here’s Susan Lawson in front of the leaning tower of Pisa, Italy.

The Leaning Tower of Pisa is the freestanding bell tower, of Pisa Cathedral. It is known for its nearly four-degree lean, the result of an unstable foundation. The height of the tower is 55.86 metres from the ground on the low side and 56.67 metres on the high side. The width of the walls at the base is 2.44 metres. Its weight is estimated at 14,500 tonnes. The tower has 296 or 294 steps; the seventh floor has two fewer steps on the north-facing staircase.

Don’t be shy! Xpress yourself today by uploading your photos to the comments below, sending them via Facebook Messenger, or emailing them to admin@xpress-yourself.co.uk

Resources for Carers

Here at Xpress-Yourself Dance CIC, we support carers. In addition to our carer classes on offer, we are also happy to provide resources to help support carers and hopefully make their responsibilities a little easier – we are more than happy to help!

We have compiled all our resources into one handy blog post for you!

There is information about support, activities for carers and information about Carers IF card. Click here to access the blog!

Don’t forget we have a FREE pre-recorded downloadable class for carers. A monthly half hour session for those unable to join us for our online or in-person carer classes, but don’t want to miss out on the dancing. After booking the class, you will receive a link via email to download the video. The link will expire within 7 days. Here at Xpress-Yourself Dance CIC we support carers. If you feel like you need additional support or advice we can make a referral to Birmingham Carers Hub. Please do just get in touch with us, we are happy to help.

RESET Carers programme

The Reset Health Group are running a free 10-week program for carers starting on the 7th of
February, focussing on improving carers’ physical, mental, and environmental health.

All sessions will be delivered hybrid, online and in-person. Sessions are held from 11.30am-2.30pm at The Birmingham Buddhist Centre.

The weekly sessions will cover:
Week 1: Introduction – Body and Mind and environment Connection – Vision
and Goals
Week 2: RESET Model – Reset Log
Week 3: The Power of Your Thoughts – Your Mindset and The Con Artist

Week 4: Environment
Week 5: Relationship and communication
Week 6: The Gut-Brain and The Gremlins
Week 7: Rest and routine
Week 8: ‘Just Like When’
Week 9: Release Your Power, Release Your Emotions
Week 10: 4 steps to RESET
*In Bold = Compulsory Sessions to Attend

Carers will have access to group therapy, breathwork, and outdoor environment activities during the 10 weeks, and ongoing.

There is also some availability for 1:1 therapy sessions.

If you think this is something that you would be interested in, please email Tilly at carers@theresethealthgroup.com

Find More Local Activities to Keep you Active

Xpress-Yourself Dance CIC understands the importance of Dance to keep your mind and body active and healthy, but joining other local activities can boost community spirit and your own wellbeing.

We have collated activities for you to join in Acocks Green area and West Bromwich area.

If you know of any other activities in your local area that you think your Keep Dancing friends will enjoy, please send the information to admin@xpress-yourself.co.uk. and we can get them into a handy blog post!

Dates for your diary

Keep Dancing for Carers at Shenley Court will not run on the following dates:

  • Tuesday 18th February 2025
  • Tuesday 15th April 2025
  • Tuesday 22nd April 2025

If you still want your Keep Dancing fix on those dates, our online Keep Dancing for carers class will run 9:30am – 10:30am.

EasyFundraising

Support us when you shop online

You will be unsurprised to hear that room hire for many of our groups has recently increased.

We are keen to not increase our prices for Keep Dancing classes but we do ask for your support. If you are partial to a little bit of online shopping you can support Xpress-Yourself Dance CIC every time you shop. We are now registered with easyfundraising, which means you can help us for FREE. Over 4,000 shops and sites will donate to us when you use easyfundraising to shop with them – at no extra cost to yourself!

All you need to do is sign up and remember to use easyfundraising whenever you shop online. It’s easy and completely FREE! These donations really will mount up and ensure that we can continue to run classes where you book by the week, and not by the month, with no price increase so please sign up to support here  So far £208.75 has been raised. This money will be used towards a monthly hall hire at one of our nine venues.  Thank you to everyone who has signed up to support us and have been online shopping with us in mind, your support is greatly appreciated. 

Read Our Blog: 5 Effective Benefits of Disco Dancing for your Physical and Mental Health

January’s blog was a nod to our Disco Dances as we gave you 5 benefits of Disco Dancing for your Physical and Mental health.

Take a read here, and let us know in the comments if you felt the Benefits from January’s Disco Dancing 🕺

February 2025 Dances

In February you will be learning a Disco dance to More Than A Woman by the Bee Gees choreographed by Faye OConnor and a Tap Dance to That Man by Caro Emerald choreographed by Faye Hadley.

Keep Dancing Greatest Hits will be dancing to 1 Ain’t no mountain High Enough- Diana Ross 2. Relax – Frankie Goes to Hollywood 3. Let’s Face the music and Dance Frank Sinatra 4. Welcome to Burlesque – Cher 5. I’m Still Waiting – Cher.

We hope you’re excited to Dance your way into February as we are !

As we go into the New Year, we are so grateful for your continued support. Whether that be continuing to interact with our Facebook page, leaving us reviews, telling your friends about our classes and booking onto our Keep Dancing classes. Your support is truly appreciated and we hope to continue keep dancing into the future. 

If you have the time please ;Leave us a Facebook Review here

Subscribe to our YouTube Channel here

Follow us on Instagram @xpre55your5elfdance

Increasing our social following will certainly help us maintain our small business in 2025.

Thank you so much!

We love to boogie!

The Xpress-Yourself Team

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