For those of you who are fans of Aerosmith, sorry to disappoint you, but this article isn’t about them. After 3 years and 3 months of taking time off from teaching line dance, I decided to get back in the saddle again! As you may remember, I took a leave of absence from my classes at the Trumbull County SCOPE Centers, where I was teaching in both Cortland and Howland.
Last year SCOPE announced that they would be opening a new center in Brookfield, OH. This location is convenient to where I live, so I decided to reach out to the SCOPE Director to express my interest in teaching there. At that time, Mike was still in charge, and he was happy to welcome me back. By the time the new center was scheduled to open this month, a new SCOPE Director, Jeff, had taken over the reins. So, I contacted him and he put me in touch with the center’s manager, Amy, who put me on the schedule starting in October.
The Brookfield Center exists thanks to the Brookfield Local School District, which set aside space in its new Brookfield Regional Community Training and Learning Center at 601 Bedford Road. Since I haven’t taught or danced for over 3 years, I decided to ease back into line dancing by offering a beginner class. My Facebook post explains that this is a beginner class for people who have never taken line dance, or haven’t attended a class in at least 3 years. If someone comes to class and expects a more difficult level, they can stay for that day, but I will refer them to another SCOPE class elsewhere which is more suited to their level of expertise.
To help me get back in the saddle again, I recently attended the inaugural night of line dancing at the Ranch Bar in Champion, OH. Vicki was the instructor and she taught several beginner dances. I briefly spoke with one of the owners, Brad, who stated they did some renovations and opened a few months ago. They decided to go with a western theme and one of the bartenders, Bella, previously knew Vicki so she made the connection to offer a free line dance lesson night. There was a nice crowd for dancing and also several tables full of people eating and drinking.
In the midst of all the patrons, I was pleasantly surprised to see a few of my former line dance students and also a teacher, Gloria, who has always been very kind and supportive of my teaching career. In the past, I took over some of Gloria’s classes for her, so she was delighted to hear that I will be teaching once again.
When Vicki took breaks from teaching, she played song requests and various groups danced. I was happy to dance alongside a dancer from my Bootleggers/Rodeo days, Anthony. He was always fun and encouraged others to dance. I was glad to meet his girlfriend, Liz, who has recently started line dancing. She did extremely well for a beginner and enjoyed watching Anthony and some others dance these requests:
In the following months, I will keep you posted on how my beginner class is going, and what places I have ventured out to line dance!
