As you can tell by the title, this month’s article is about Cathy Kaufman, one of the line dance instructors at the Dusty Armadillo in Rootstown. Cathy has been teaching there for 18 years; she started in January 2005. She was the instructor the first time I stepped on that famous dance floor, which was about 15 years ago. For this article, I chatted with Cathy and took her lesson on April 8, 2023. She usually teaches on Friday nights, but the owner scheduled a special Saturday night “lesson with Cathy” that evening.
In 1993, Cathy was attending ballroom dance lessons when the Moonlight Ballroom Studio introduced a line dance class. Cathy’s teacher asked her to help and soon the whole class was following her; consequently, Cathy went on to teach line dancing elsewhere and the studio resumed teaching ballroom. The first place Cathy taught was at the Louisville YMCA; then later the same year, she was teaching at the Moondog Saloon, which was a club inside the Sheraton at Belden Village.
The biggest challenge Cathy faces at the Dusty is teaching only “country” line dances. To choose which dances to teach there, she corresponds with other dance club instructors and looks for the most popular new dances on the CopperKnob website. She loves introducing beginners to line dancing, so her favorite dances to teach are easy ones. Her favorite one to dance, for the last couple years, is called Nothing But You; here is a link to the step sheet:
Nothing But You
When I asked Cathy what is the biggest difference she has noticed from when she started teaching at the Dusty until now, Cathy responded that Friday nights were always local band nights after she taught the dance class. Now it’s open dance with the deejay. I also wondered if she choreographed any dances; her reply was “only one,” to “Drinking Songs” by Walker Hayes who filmed the music video at the Dusty Armadillo during his concert there in February 2022! Here is a link to the step sheet:
Drinking Songs
During the lesson I took on April 8th, Cathy taught some classic line dances; two are available on CopperKnob and the other has a YouTube video:
We danced this to the song “John Deere Green” by Joe Diffie:
Tumbleweed
We danced this to the song “Good Brown Gravy” by Joe Diffie:
The Opie Stomp
Here’s the video Cathy recommended for the third dance:
1994 Jason Aldean Line Dance
Congratulations to Cathy on 18 years of teaching at The Dusty Armadillo!
Dori Yez teaches Country Line Dancing at these Ohio SCOPE Centers: Howland on Monday evenings (Seasoned Beginners) and Wednesday evenings (Improver & Intermediate) plus the same level in Cortland on Friday afternoons. Due to room size and attendance, Dori can no longer accept new students in any of her classes.
