Adult dancers not missing a step

These days, a dance recital won’t just feature happy little kids on their toes. Chances are, you’ll see some of their mothers on stage, too.
More and more grown women are taking introductory dance classes and even are proud to strut their stuff on stage, noted Borka Gauthier, instructor of Fort Dance Studio here.
“I think a lot of it is because society is encouraging women to take time out for themselves,” she suggested.
And judging from the reactions of some of her students, that speculation isn’t too far off base.
“I realize that everyone else is a lot younger,” laughed Leslie Danielson, a 34-year-old mother of one who’s taken jazz classes since the studio opened a year ago.
“But it’s my time–time to go out and do stuff for me. My son does hockey. This is my time,” she stressed.
When Gauthier first opened her dance studio last September, she said she was gauging the response to adult classes before actually offering any. The response was good: six people signed up for jazz while another five chose tap.
This year, she’s had to expand the adult dance program to accommodate the growing interest. “Fun fitness,” ballet, and ballroom have been added to the jazz-and-tap schedule for adult students.
Eager to show off what they’ve learned, some of her students have danced publicly in five shows, including the annual Rainy River District Music and Drama Festival this past spring and the Fort Frances Canadian Bass Championship last month.
Michele Gilbert, 36, had taken ballet for only a year when she had to give it up when she was 12 years old. She said as soon as she heard about the adult dance lessons, she signed up for as many as she could, taking both jazz and tap.
At the height of her involvement, Gilbert, who has a teenaged daughter, was dancing between eight and 10 hours a week.
“You end up in this kind of mode with everyone else [when you’re dancing],” she reflected. “You stop and say, hey, everyone’s having fun, everyone’s inner child is coming out.
`“You can always dance by yourself–and I do that quite often–but it’s more fun to dance with other people,” she reasoned.
Besides taking time out for themselves, Gauthier can see several other reasons why adult women are taking up dance. For one, she noticed women are looking for an enjoyable way to keep fit and feel good.
“People are becoming more and more conscious of not only how they look but also how they feel,” she explained. “It’s not about being slim, trim, and fit but feeling good about yourself.
“To have this is really great. It gives them that much more choices,” she added.
She also noted many students are returning to dance. “They did it at one time and somehow trailed away from it,” Gauthier remarked. “Now they say, ‘I really enjoyed that, I wish I’d stayed with it.’”
In fact, that’s exactly what drew Danielson back into the studio. She remembers dancing for 10 or 12 years, starting when she was three, and giving it up during high school.
“When I had the opportunity [to dance again], I thought, ‘I had fun, I might as well do it again,’” she said.
Gauthier also said dance classes help people out socially and personally.
“If you love music and dancing, if you have that kind of background, you’re more apt to go and dance at socials and weddings,” she noted. “It gives you self-worth and boosts your self-confidence.”
In fact, some of Gauthier’s students took the lessons so seriously that they travelled to Thunder Bay for exams in April.
“To see it on paper, it’s something to be proud of,” she enthused.
Gilbert said the challenges she faces as an adult student are similar to what a younger one would. She also forgets and mixes steps up. “I just laugh and go on,” she chuckled.
And even she’s noticed what Gauthier already knew–that grown women are eager to learn dance.
“Since the recital at the bass tournament, it seems like more and more adults are saying, ‘Hey, that looks like fun, I’d like to try,’” she said. “I say, ‘Why don’t you?’”