Entertainment
18 June, 2026
Movement is good medicine
MAREEBA’s Arnold Park came alive recently as local dance group Dance4Life held its Salsa in the Streets event.
The free salsa workshop attracted some of the group’s regular members as well as members of the community who simply decided to join in on the fun.
Dance4Life has been making an effort to become more known in the community and is pushing to share the many benefits dancing can have on physical and mental health.
“My dream is for people to learn that dancing is literally for everyone, no matter your culture, your background, or your age,” Dance4Life owner and director Ulrike Nicholls said.
“I got my qualifications at Arthur Murray International Ballroom and Latin School over 20 years ago in South Africa. Since then I’ve worked on cruise ships all over the world and I’ve worked with people who have dementia and Alzheimer’s – and my mother died with Alzheimer’s and dementia.
“So it kind of brought things full circle for me when I found an article, at least five or more years ago now, where they did a study on dancing for mental health. It also compared mental health related activities, like brain games, with the partner dancing over a period of time.
“What they found was, if you regularly danced with a partner over a long period of time, it reduced the risk of Alzheimer’s and dementia and other mental illnesses – even depression they’re talking about now – by 76%, and that’s compared to sudoku and all of those games, which only reduced it by 43%.
“That just put everything into perspective for me that we need to dance. We need to dance for our mental health, for our physical health, and our social health.
“We dance from when we are one year old. My young daughter moves to music before her brain even registers it, so that tells me there’s something deeper beneath the surface… we need to get rid of the stigma that dancing ‘isn’t for everyone’.”
The dance studio, located at the Mareeba Spanish Club, is getting ready to celebrate its fourth birthday next weekend, with members of the community more than welcome to attend.
“Anybody can come along if they wish. We’re going to have our traditional champagne waterfall that we do every year, and this year we’re adding a chocolate foundation as well,” Ulrike said.
“We have a few students that will receive certificates of completion for some of their levels and then we’ll just be dancing. I’ll probably teach a little bit too, something like a 30-minute beginner taster class before the celebrations.”
The birthday celebrations will be held at the Mareeba Spanish Club next Sunday 26 June from 6.30pm. More information about the club can be found at www.dance4lifefnq.com or on social media.
