“Everybody was kung fu fighting. Those cats were fast as lightning,” sang Carl Douglas.

Like the words to his popular song, kung fu dancing is a little bit frightening and you definitely need expert timing.

As I found out when I joined Paul Lockyer and Martine Niven who run a Kung Fu for Dancers class at Pavilion Dance, Pavilion Theatre, Bournemouth.

The session is aimed at dancers, actors and anybody who’d like to benefit from the discipline of the martial art.

“It’s great for dancers as it builds core strength and improves form through physical movement. Actors can also benefit from the philosophical side that connects mind and body,” says Paul Lockyer.

The class runs for an hour and takes place in the ballroom, where we warmed up with a few laps, press-ups and jumps.

My instructors Paul and Martine are both former drama students, who have been studying martial arts for a collective 25 years. They taught regularly on cruise ships, took various private and corporate workshops and now have their own martial arts school and business, Natural Healing, in Bournemouth.

They work with performers in training, bringing together their knowledge and experience of movement and acting. During this time Paul has choreographed martial arts for various theatre projects.

“We’ll take it easy on you, but you’ll be hurting for a few days starting tomorrow morning,” says Paul.

He wasn’t wrong. I could only move my eyeballs when waking the next day.

After a vigorous warm-up, Paul and Martine had me doing cartwheels and forward rolls on a crash mat. We then progressed to stretching and kung fu stances that pushed my limits of flexibility. Or the “point of pain” as Paul fondly called it.

“You’d be surprised that a lot of dancers are not very supple. This is where we can improve with techniques for stretching.”

Through Paul’s enthusiasm for martial arts, he managed to instil the confidence in me to attempt the splits. Not bad considering I was a beginner and not particularly bendy.

The class then wound down with a spot of mediation that left me feeling stupidly relaxed for the rest of the day.

“It’s not just about physical exercise, but calming and focusing the mind.”

After an hour of Kung Fu for Dancers, I was chopping them up and chopping them down like Carl Douglas on Top of the Pops.

l Kung Fu for Dancers runs at Pavilion Dance, Pavilion Theatre Bournemouth every Thursday from 10 to 11am.