'If I can empower one woman, why not a generation'

Beyoncé and Shakira's Beautiful Liar blasts around a pink dance studio full of women as they prepare to hit every beat in a dance class.

While some people are new, others have been attending SOS Dance, which holds sessions across the UK to empower women, since it began.

Amanda Radek, 34, is leading the class in Birmingham. After finding herself unemployed when she quit her PR job in lockdown, dancing in her kitchen became a habit.

Fast forward five years and she is an SOS dance instructor at the weekends, loving moments with her "sisterhood" and no longer getting the Sunday scaries before work.

From improving your balance and co-ordination to connecting with other people and managing stress, dancing is reported to have many benefits.

Ms Radek said that dancing boosted her mental health and helped her create the "best community" of women.

"I wanted to bring an encouraging, inclusive, judgement-free experience to Birmingham," she said.

"Dance is just one of the absolute best things you can do for your mental health, you feel so confident and more people need access to it."

Former professional backing dancer Bonnie Lister Parsons said she founded SOS Dance in 2019 so women could learn routines and feel "a sense of worth".

Performing with all the stars meant that "Britney Spears was my religion" and Beyoncé was "in my DNA", she said.

Ms Parsons, who lives in London, said messages soon started pouring in from women claiming her classes had changed their lives, getting them through break-ups, mental health issues and promotions.

"I thought if I can empower one woman, why not a million, why not a generation?"

She said she named her company SOS Dance as students attend the classes in their "SOS moments", using dance to find a way through the "stresses of life".

When lockdown hit, Ms Parsons turned to virtual training sessions where demand for the sessions "boomed" and many people wanted to bring SOS to their city.

Birmingham is now one of 45 SOS groups that run across the UK.

Describing SOS Dance as "life changing" is something that Nishi Panicker, 26, couldn't agree more with.

She left university four years ago, which she described as a "really scary experience" and "difficult transition" as her friends moved away from Birmingham.

Surrounded by predominantly male colleagues in her IT job, she said dancing had become a "staple" for her to meet new female friends.

"It's became my safe place to come to, to have friendship and regain what I feel I lost when I left uni," she said.

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