The Dance Primer

Just before my senior year, my high school decided to start a Ballroom Dance team. I decided to give it a shot, even though I’d never done any ballroom - other than some steps around the house with my dad. Also, my attempts at solo dancing (or any other athletic endeavor for that matter) had always been a difficult coordination struggle. Minutes before the auditions, a handsome lead showed me the basic cha-cha. Something magic happened the minute I was dancing in his arms; my body knew what to do! I made the team, although I’m not claiming I was actually any good at competitive ballroom. I never did get the proper techniques down… mostly because I didn’t care if my arm or foot was pointing at the right angle. I just wanted that magic partner connection, and I wanted to dance!
That was more than ten years ago, and I’m still passionate about partner dancing. When I discovered Lindy Hop, I knew it was the dance for me. I improved my swing dancing through lessons, workshops, and social dancing. I survived dancing in a relatively small college town by taking dance trips out of town as often as possible, teaching dance to anyone who would let me (community, clubs, and even at the college), and helping to run a swing club where I taught, DJ’d, booked workshops and bands, you name it!

Currently, my husband and I teach beginning swing dance lessons through the Multnmah Arts Center, and run a twice-monthly Swing Practica.

In other realms of life; I’m on break from my non-profit management career to work as a full-time parent. I met my husband while swing dancing and we fell in love on the ballroom floor. If you want to know me even better, feel free to check out my personal blog.

To contact me for any reason, please send a note to dance.primer@gmail.com. (You’ll have to copy and paste, I’m trying to cut down on spam.) I’d love to hear your tips, article ideas, or whatever else you have to say.

*portrait by Lyric Kinard.