After 18 years of teaching, Mandy Webb has taken her final bow as an instructor with Jazzercise Metchosin.
She joined the class as a student after moving to Metchosin in 1991. At the time she was working as an early childhood educator. She enjoyed the classes for years before eventually taking over the business as owner and instructor.
“It brings my inner child out, just being able to play as a teacher, even when working in a more adult setting,” she said. “And the dancing was just a darn good bonus.”
Since 2004 she has taught dance fitness classes at a variety of different levels in the Metchosin hall – prior to the pandemic she was leading 12 classes a week, a number that dropped to four given public health restrictions.
The classes fit the Metchosin community well, she added, because they allowed a wide age range to take a fitness class close to home. Some people have attended her classes for years, including some Webb knows from her preschool teaching days. It’s those “decades-long” friendships she’ll miss the most about the job.
“(I’ll miss) having people check into Jazzercise not really knowing what to expect, and to have them stay for years and years and so enthusiastically relating the health changes that they’ve experienced. The community feel has been amazing,” she said.
Webb is retiring a little sooner than she intended to, but said she needed to take a break for a few months. While she is moving to Sooke, she plans to come back to the class as a student in the near future.
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