I attended my first dance class in almost a year today. It felt good. It's not any of the styles I'm most known for, but it's not exactly new to me either, so I guess you could say today's class felt a little more like re-reading a treasured book for the fifth time, rather than returning to a old and forgotten love for me.

As I was explaining to a friend recently, the last time I was dancing regularly, I felt happier and more confident, for some reason I couldn't quite explain. So here I am, returning to some form of it, searching for some of the confidence and self-assurance I seem to have lost in the years that I've been working.

That, and of course the stress relieving effect any physical activity has on me.

I first took up dance when I was waiting for my A Level results. I'd always liked listening to pop music, but it was only when I learnt the mass dance that comes with every junior college orientation that I discovered how much I liked to move to it too.

Being the practical student that I was, I waited till after my studies were over before taking on any additional extracurricular activities. It just so happened that during this time, I wasn't having the easiest of times with my first boyfriend, seeing as both of us were thousands of miles apart. I threw myself into other activities - more dance classes, boxercise, anything - in an effort to expel some of the stress I was undergoing at the time.

That summer, the relationship ended. I prepared for my own entrance into university, left home and ran into a someone about to found the dance society I would later become president of, and promptly began a serious relationship with a new-found love.

Now, many years later, even though my dedication to classes and learning has been on and off, my affection for dancing itself has never waned. Essentially, this is the longest relationship I've had in my life to date.

So, lover, here's to today and here's to many more years of happiness together.