This Friday marks the first time that dance walking will hit the streets of Red Deer as an organized group.
Diane Hermary, participant in the group, said the idea came about after watching a video on facebook.
“The video got shared and after seeing the video we thought how could you not want to do that? A few people commented saying we should and now all of a sudden there is a group of us doing it,” said Hermary.
Currently there are 95 people in the group who want to take part. The plan is to organize groups for Fridays in Red Deer to meet at a set location and dance walk through the City.
“Absolutely anyone can take part. We’re combining fitness and fun and that’s all there is to it.”
Hermary said there are mothers planning on attending with their children and people who are confined to wheelchairs who have joined in the group.
“As long as you can move in some way — you don’t have to dance you can just come out and walk with us.”
Hermary said she is looking forward to the event and that they plan to encourage people on the street to join the group as they go through downtown as well. The group has even gone so far as to get playlists of music ready to go.
“We even have a dress code of pink and black so that people can notice us on the street, but it’s not mandatory to wear those colours.”
The group will meet at 11 a.m. in the downtown 7-11 parking lot and progress from there.
“We want to end up in City Hall Park afterwards for an impromptu and short Zumba class with Natalie Brooks.”
The Zumba class will not run every Friday with the dance walking but Hermary said there may be other instructors who offer their services.
Hermary said what makes this event special and fun is that it will be a random group of people getting together to share in one activity. “It’s always interesting to see how a bunch of random people interact. Flash mobs like this are the coolest things because they bring total strangers together to have fun. To me, that’s sort of the meaning of life.”
She explained that the event will continue to run on Fridays but that the time may change.
“There are some people who can’t get away from work for an early lunch. We may change the time or we may end up with a second group running at noon.”
She said they have no plans set in stone and that it is just a matter of taking it week by week to see how many people partake. “This could start and end or turn into a weekly thing which goes for years, which would be super cool in my opinion.”
For more information visit the ‘Dance Walking Red Deer’ group on facebook.
kpalardy@reddeerexpress.com
