I’ve been really crazy about dancing since...

I’ve been really crazy about dancing since I was 9 years old. About then, I discovered pop music. A girlfriend said, let me show you this step. It was the twist. That was the start of many years of dancing fun.

From then on, I went to every dance I could find. I spent the week waiting for the next dance. I practiced with girlfriends, and I’d watch other dancers intensely. For a long time, I did a lot of dancing just for fun--as my obsession in life.

When I was going to college, it was like therapy. I had a very structured routine that included school, studying, work and karate. Dancing was when I’d put down my books, dress up, go out and move to the music. It was a wonderful release.

I majored in psychology and got a degree from San Diego State University, and I intended to go to graduate school because I liked the study of human behavior. But, at the time, I was working as a teacher’s assistant at a junior high, and the teacher I worked with said, “You love to teach, and you love to dance so much, why don’t you teach dancing?”

That was 14 years ago. I started teaching nightclub dancing and put off my school plans. It was a good break. I wanted to be out in the world.

The studio I was working at turned into a bigger studio, and I became a supervisor and then manager over a course of 3 1/2 years. But, after being manager for a while, I realized I didn’t like managing other people that much. The one-on-one teaching and the dancing had been a lot more enjoyable, and I liked the incentive of getting paid by the lesson.

The studio eventually closed, but I still had this clientele of people that I was teaching. At first I found another studio that would allow me to just rent floor space. But people kept encouraging me to teach a class, and I decided to give it a try.

I rented a hall and started teaching swing dancing, then jitterbug. It just mushroomed, and the classes got huge. Now I get about 125 new people in my classes each month. Altogether, I teach about 225 people a week in various classes.

Jitterbug is still the most popular dance. Some people think of jitterbug as throwing people over their backs and through their legs. You can do that, but I don’t normally teach that, because you only want to teach it to really athletic, agile people. But it’s really a dance with lots of turns.

Somewhere along the way in March, 1987, I started the jitterbug club. We had all these dancing people, and the bulk of them were in their 30s, about 20 years younger than those doing ballroom dancing. These were people who grew up during a period when touch dancing was not done.

After they finished my class, it was hard to find places to send them to dance. With their beginning skills, they need something that would draw them in and make them feel real comfortable. So I started the club.

At first, I thought if we get 25 to 35 dancers, that would be fine. It took some real persistence from a committee of people, but the next year we had 60 people at the Christmas party.

Now we’re up to about 200, and we fill up the Elks Lodge hall in Hillcrest on the first and third Sunday each month. It’s phenomenal beyond belief. I never would have predicted such interest 10 years ago.

At the dances, we have this unwritten rule. I just make it a lighthearted thing, but I do encourage people not to turn anyone down for a dance. I also encourage women to ask the men to dance.

I like to think of it more as a big practice party for everyone to come and dance real hard for two hours and have a great time and just turn around and ask anyone to dance without any inhibitions.

At night clubs, people say no when somebody asks them to dance because they’re not attracted to them. To me, dancing is not about that. Dancing is supposed to be for fun.

Obviously people do meet at the jitterbug club and date and get married and have babies. I’m always getting invited to weddings. But it’s really quite a different atmosphere. It’s not a singles club. A lot of people are single, but everyone dances with everyone. We get enough rejection in the world.

For some, learning to dance is going to be a nervous activity. But, after they take the four-week class, I encourage them to repeat the class at no charge. People keep coming and keep practicing.

I tell beginners to keep going even if they make a mistake. If you make a mistake and stop, you’re highlighting it. If you keep going, it diminishes its importance. Learning to dance is a repetitive process, so every moment you stop dancing is a wasted moment.

I try to make my class very gentle. I feel like a mother hen. I feel very protective of my students and try to make my class a very relaxed and comfortable setting.

But I also tell them, don’t take this all that seriously. You’re not being graded, and it’s not going to make or break your life. It’s supposed to be fun.