Fancy footwork : Kristina Rihanoff on Strictly Come Dancing . My husband is holding me in his arms , gazing fondly into my eyes and leading me across the floor in a series of sinuous moves that , quite frankly , I never imagined he could make . Such a moment never seemed possible because , like many women , I have been made a wallflower by a can ’ t-dance , won ’ t-dance partner . We never even had an opening waltz at our wedding 30-odd years ago . David , my husband , doesn ’ t so much as bop at parties . However , with the help of Strictly Come Dancing ’ s Kristina Rihanoff , we are getting the chance to take to the floor together – and in the process improve our fitness and our general mood , and even make our marriage healthier . Dressing up and taking your partner ’ s hand to dance à deux is catching on all over again , thanks to the huge success of the TV dance show . ‘ Learning dance steps allows couples to enjoy the closeness of each other and creates a sense of trust as well as intimacy , ’ says Kristina , who has partnered celebrities from newscaster John Sergeant to pop singer Simon Webbe on the TV show . ‘ Some therapists suggest it as a form of marriage counselling . It allows men to lead and feel in charge again , and women to feel they are being taken care of by their partner . ‘ Plus it releases endorphins as your heart rate goes up. ’ And so I found myself relearning the essential 12 steps of salsa for the first time since I did the cha-cha-cha at Victor Sylvester ’ s Saturday morning ballroom classes for children , decades ago . Dancing was in my blood : my father danced his teens and 20s away and became an eight-times ballroom dancing champion . Kristina is giving David and me a taste of the weekend workshops she ’ s running at Champneys health spa over the next few months . But I find myself wondering how her students are going to cope with a class lasting three-quarters of an hour when we are knocked out after ten minutes of practice . ‘ I feel like a robot , ’ grumbles David , who has zero ballroom experience but bucks up when Kristina puts Santana on the sound system . He is musical – playing guitar – but his sense of rhythm does not extend to his feet , which Kristina says is surprisingly common . As for me , although I spent two years of my teens jiving in Soho discos , learning specific steps 40 years on is a discipline I ’ m finding taxing . It ’ s a more demanding workout , in fact , than anything I did on a brain-improvement programme I recently attended . ‘ You need to focus absolutely , ’ explains Kristina , who says the extreme attention needed to learn a sequence is good for improving mood as well as fitness . ‘ When I started partnering Simon he was extremely down , but felt the dancing had a very positive effect . ‘ Like yoga , ballroom dancing takes you out of yourself ; you can ’ t think of anything else while you ’ re practising , so it takes you away from your everyday worries. ’ Masterclass : Anthea dances with Kristina as David looks on . The Strictly star says learning dance steps together creates a sense of trust as well as intimacy between couples . A recent study in Poland suggested that dancing can elicit an improvement in mood . Another soon-to-be-published study shows that learning to dance improves leg muscle architecture in older women , while dementia patients were found to feel much better after taking a Latin ballroom class for a 2013 study . The aerobic effect is obviously a plus for weight loss ; Kristina says John Sergeant lost more than two stone while training with her for an unimaginable eight hours a day . I say ‘ unimaginable ’ because after 15 minutes , my reluctant partner and I are so winded that we wonder whether we can even survive till the end of our session . I blame my shortness of breath on the need to accomplish a full underarm twirl in just three steps , every minute or so . Even so , given that our other steps involve only a gentle rocking back and forth and bringing feet together , my heart rate is raised in half the time it takes when I walk at nearly 4mph on the treadmill . David becomes furious as he keeps forgetting to switch to the side-step that kicks off the next part of the salsa sequence . Kristina reassures us that we are no worse than any beginners , and half an hour later we ’ re congratulating ourselves on remembering all 18 steps of our sequence and even keeping time with the music . I could see myself going on to tackle the foxtrot , the quickstep and tango . But first , I need a partner – the one I ’ ve got says he prefers his salsa with avocado on a nice tortilla . At least Champneys will guarantee everyone who books Kristina ’ s course someone to dance with . Strictly Ballroom weekends cost from £395 and take place on March 28-29 and May 22-24 . For more information , go to champneys.com .
Strictly Come Dancing ’ s Kristina Rihanoff says learning dance steps creates sense of trust as well as intimacy between couples . Some therapists even suggest dancing as a form of marriage counselling . This is because it allows men to lead and women to feel they are being taken care of , Kristina says .