Dance Connections Newsletter

There’s something humbling about coming back to something you used to know how to do and realizing your body doesn’t remember nearly as much as you thought it would.

 

I started swing dancing in high school, but I actually spent more time teaching other girls’ boyfriends how to dance and passing them back to their partners than I did getting to social dance myself. Then I got married really young, life changed, and I stopped dancing for about a decade.

 

When I finally came back to swing dancing, I wasn’t an experienced dancer who was a little rusty. I was a beginner again.

 

I had forgotten everything. And strangely enough, that turned out to be a benefit. I didn’t even have the bad habit of backleading—taking over control of the dance instead of allowing myself to follow. I had a clean slate. I got to learn again without having to first unlearn what I’d been doing before.

 

I was literally a beginner again, and being a beginner wasn’t something I had to overcome. It was an advantage.

 

Sometimes we stay away from things we once loved because we think we should still be good at them. We remember the person we used to be and feel embarrassed that we can’t immediately pick up where we left off. But there’s no rule that says you have to.

 

You’re allowed to knock off the dust.

 

You’re allowed to forget the steps.

 

You’re allowed to laugh when your feet have absolutely no idea what your brain is asking them to do.

 

And you’re allowed to be a beginner again—even at something you once knew.

 

In fact, sometimes starting over gives you the chance to learn differently. You come back with a different body, different life experience, and a different understanding of yourself. You aren't going backward. You're simply meeting dancing again from where you are now.

 

So if it’s been six months, six years, or a few decades since you last danced, you don’t need to get yourself “ready” before you come back.

 

Come rusty.

 

We’ll knock the dust off together.

 

Do YOU remember being a beginner?

 

Do you remember your first lessons with me? Do you remember what felt awkward at first, what finally clicked, or the moment you realized, Hey, I can actually do this?

 

If those lessons made a difference, I’d love for you to leave me an honest Google review and tell future beginners about your experience. Your words may be exactly what someone else needs to hear when they’re wondering whether they’re too old, too awkward, too uncoordinated, or simply too nervous to learn.

 

And if all this talk about dancing has you thinking that maybe it’s time to come back, I’m offering my former students an Anniversary $25 Intro Lesson.

 

Think of it as permission to be a beginner again.

 

Come knock off the dust. Come forget what you used to know. Come rediscover what your body remembers—and relearn what it doesn’t.

 

No need to practice first. No need to get yourself ready.

Just come dance.