Feeling Very Silly
I went to an open day hosted by the diet and fitness club I belong to (Rosemary Conley, for anyone in the UK). Although I currently have a job, I've been thinking that I'd like to buy one of their franchises and run diet and fitness classes in my local area.
After all the advertising spiel (which lasted all morning, in a very hot room!), we had to do a short exercise routine. After that was an interview with rosemary and her panel, including the woman who had assessed the routine. She (the exercise woman) asked me if I 'always struggled to find the beat in the music'! I just smiled and said no, not at all, I wasn't struggling. She insisted that I'd looked as though I was struggling. I repeated that, no, I've always found it easy to exercise to music. They then mentioned my age (45) and said they thought I wouldn't be able to cope with their intensive training schedule and that I would struggle with cueing - i.e. doing one thing while telling the class what's coming next. I didn't bother to argue because they all sounded as though they'd already made up their minds. They told me that I could do the exercise to music training locally and then come back and 'try out' for them again. This was after spending most of the morning telling us how wonderful their training program was - 'second to none' etc etc!
My class leader knew that I was going to this open day and didn't tell me I might have a problem. In fact, she said 'oh they'll love you - you're a natural'. As I told my husband afterwards, it's not as though I'm always a beat behind everyone else. I feel so stupid, like one of those people on talent shows who think they can sing but are really tone deaf. If I have a problem with timing, shouldn't I be the first to know about it?
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