I finally broke this particular phobia because a good friend had been drawn into the world of swing dancing (known as "Lindy Hop"). She constantly eulogized her new hobby and I finally got to see some of this first hand at a party at her house attended by some of her dancing buddies. They were very obviously having enormous fun and so I decided with somewhat mixed feelings to go along to a beginners lesson at the Monday night session (called "Stompin") in The 100 Club on Oxford Street.

My reasoning was that if I hated the dancing (as I expected to) then I could at least skulk in a corner and watch the live band there. Even attending the lesson was well outside my comfort zone and I was ridiculously nervous beforehand. If you like dancing - or are ambivalent about it - then you probably won't get this, but even the very low commitment of going along for this lesson was quite a big deal for me.

My phobia wasn't in quite the same league as Stephen Fry's loathing of dancing itself (I've always loved Fred Astaire movies) so the idea of being able to dance was appealing - it's just that I had never had a positive dance experience in practice.

So I turned up to the lesson, hands shaking slightly, sat around feeling foolish as we waited for the lesson to start and... lost all self-consciousness and absolutely loved it. Which you probably were expecting, but I definitely wasn't.

Unfortunately a single lesson wasn't enough for me to feel competent in the social dance with the live band. Even if I'd been a bit more adroit I'd still only have learnt enough steps for about ten seconds worth of any given song! It did give me a real taste for swing dance, however, and I started attending the Monday night lessons

(This photo shows The Jive Aces performing at The 100 Club just before Christmas)

That was back on the 18th of August. I quickly decided that Monday night lessons weren't enough and started looking for other lessons. The same teacher (the excellent Simon Selmon of The London Swing Dance Society) runs lessons in Holborn on Tuesdays so I started going to those as well. Then I tried Jitterbugs over in Marble Arch on Wednesdays. Then I signed up for a basic ballroom class in Marylebone on Thursdays because any and all taught dancing was becoming an irresistible idea.

It's fair to say that an obsession has taken hold. I go to Sunday lessons where available and while I haven't quite managed a full seven days in a row of dance just yet I fully expect that to be a highlight of 2009.

So I had to get some special shoes. Obviously.

I was ludicrously excited about these. I don't think I've ever been as excited about a pair of shoes. In fact I don't think I've ever been excited about a pair of shoes at all before. It's quite embarrassing.

After checking out the options I settled on a pair of black and white Oxfords. They have a metal reinforcing "tang" to give them a bit of extra spring, they are of a very supple leather so that your feet can move around in them flexibly and they're soled in suede so that you can slide around and spin nicely in them.

As shoes go they're pretty cool.

I bought the shoes at the Freed shop on St. Martin's Lane in the west end of London. This is an experience in its own right. The shop's main focus is ballet shoes - it services ballet companies across the world - but they have a good range of other dance footwear and while they only had one black and white shoe available I rather liked the design.

I was also influenced by the fact that Freed's shoes would be available (hand made mark you!) in about a fortnight whereas the alternatives would take more like a month and the price was roughly the same at £80.

In fact my shoes were ready for a fitting (how many £80 shoes come with a fitting?) after a week so I dropped by to check that out and confirm the sole type that I wanted. The alternatives were leather or resin but I'm pleased with the suede option that I went for on the advice of my dancing friends.

Inside and out the shop is rather old fashioned, up to and including the service which is excellent.

Another week and my shoes were ready. They fit wonderfully, they feel lovely to dance in, and they improve my technique not one jot (but you can't have everything). I adore them.

Shoes aside I've also started poking my nose into retro clothing stores to see if they have any 30s style clothing. I even went to the extraordinary Angels' sale to look through the costumes because I'm starting to think I should aquire some braces at the very least. There are quite a few dancers who really dress up in full period style and they look brilliant. For now I'm making do with chinos and a t-shirt (which are very practical at least) but I think it's only a matter of time.