Neighbours doing 'socially distant dancing' on their street will warm your heart
Together but apart. That's the situation we're living in as we socially distance during the new coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic.
In the UK, we are currently under lockdown, and we're only allowed to leave the house for food, health reasons, or work – or to do one form of daily exercise.
In order to fulfil this last criteria, one street in the north west of England is doing something called "socially distant dancing" from their driveways and doorsteps.
Elsa Williams, who lives on the dance-loving street in question, posted a video of the neighbours dancing to Tom Jones' "It's Not Unusual." Great music choice.
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Everyone in the video appears to be keeping ample distance from each other, and staying on the boundaries of their own drives or properties. In the UK, the government is advising everyone to stay 2 metres (6ft) away from other people at all times, unless you live with them.
Williams explained that the woman in the middle of the road is a local fitness instructor named Janet Woodcock, who leads the sessions.
She added that "distance dancing" only lasts 10 minutes a day so as to cause minimal noise disturbance. "Mostly our road is kids and elderly residents who are self isolating so they look forward to it."
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Seemingly, the dancing was only supposed to be a one-off, but everyone on the street was so uplifted by it, it's become a daily event.
"It's also worth noting that our road hardly spoke to each other before all this!" she added.
Well if that doesn't cheer you heart, I don't know what will!
Rachel Thompson is the Features Editor at Mashable. Rachel's second non-fiction book The Love Fix: Reclaiming Intimacy in a Disconnected World is out now, published by Penguin Random House in Jan. 2025. The Love Fix explores why dating feels so hard right now, why we experience difficult emotions in the realm of love, and how we can change our dating culture for the better.
A leading sex and dating writer in the UK, Rachel has written for GQ, The Guardian, The Sunday Times Style, The Telegraph, Cosmopolitan, Glamour, Stylist, ELLE, The i Paper, Refinery29, and many more.
Rachel's first book Rough: How Violence Has Found Its Way Into the Bedroom And What We Can Do About It, a non-fiction investigation into sexual violence was published by Penguin Random House in 2021.
