I’m an older man and I love to dance. What’s wrong with that? | Phil Hilton

Dancing brings joy and has huge health benefits, but would-be older clubbers like me too often meet suspicion and derision

Christmas represents a brief relaxation of the ban on over-45s dancing in public. There will be house parties, office parties, cleared kitchen spaces and lounge carpets, and possibly some marquees. For a few weeks only we will stand up, survey the risks, feel the music's pull, let our guard down and allow the world to see us twist and bob. Initially, we will be cautious, our faces all raised-eyebrow self-mockery, just in case. But once we are sure it's safe, we will be free again, free to move in ways not normally permitted to the unyoung.

The ageism around clubbing is unquestioned. A recent survey into when people stop going dancing found we retreat at about 37. Walking past the queues outside clubs in London it looks more like 25 to me. The thought of standing there, at the age of 58, waiting to be scrutinised by the door team, makes my stomach scrunch imagining the humiliation of rejection.

Phil Hilton is a writer, editor and podcaster