Becoming a Dance Teacher: My Journey

Even though I danced all my life, I did not always know I wanted to become a dance teacher. I did not even know if I could make dance a professional part of my life. I grew up in a household, where enjoying yourself never correlated well with work. As such, it would be a joke if I said I wanted to dance for a living. Therefore, I never said it.

But then on the dance floor, your hair whips your face, sweat drips down your brow, down your back. You feel another person's hands on you, moving you in ways you never knew you could. You hear the music, the drum taps the same beat as your heart, the rhythm flows with the adrenaline coursing through your veins. You feel the music, you are the music. You feel the movement, you are the movement. You are dancing and everything else in the world stands still except for you, your partner, your music, your movement, your dance.

Let's face it. You're addicted. You love to dance because it gives you something - a feeling, maybe something more, that nothing else can give you. During that 3 minute song, dancing makes you feel truly present and you are living in the moment. It's something that annoyingly, can't be described, only felt. And it's for this reason, this passion, this joy that I want to do what I can to try to share the gift of dance with others.

I've loved to dance as long as I can remember. I grew up dancing ballet, tap, and jazz like all little girls did and managed to keep up with it all the way to high school. When I found out the high school I went to didn't have a dance team, I joined the cheer-leading squad because it was the closest thing I could find to dance. In college, I was an accounting major but found myself on a number of different dance troupes practicing and performing. I could never get it out of my system. And I still haven't!

I had a professional career as an accountant for a number of years. It was a demanding profession requiring many hours and leaving little time for dance. I became so depressed and I literally felt like something was missing from my life. Until I went out to a salsa club and was swept away by a different type of dance. Partner dance. It was unlike anything I had ever done before and was instantly hooked. Wanting to learn more Salsa, I researched dance lessons and found dance studios offering lessons in not just salsa, but all ballroom dancing - everything from Waltz to Samba. Once I started partner dancing, I couldn't stop.

I would be sitting in my cubicle, my feet having a mind of its own under the desk. I couldn't fall asleep at night because I would be running dance steps over and over in my head. Every time a song came on, I would picture myself in my head dancing to it. I was that girl, listening to her Ipod, dancing in the streets, making my way to my destination. Yes, I was that girl.

I dreamed about leaving my job and having my career revolve around dance somehow. Possibly as the accountant at a dance studio, work at the front desk, be the janitor. Anything! I didn't care about making less money, I didn't care about weird hours, I just wanted to dedicate my time to something I cared about, something I was passionate about.

At one of my dance lessons, I looked at my instructors and thought "Wow, what a cool job they have. They just come in and dance with everyone all day. They share their passion with others. They give us the ability and tools to enjoy dance the way they enjoy dance" I started my research and came across a website with information that changed my life. Could I become a ballroom dance teacher? Yes. That was all I needed to know.

Source: Personal experience