For These Instructors, Dancing Really Is A Labor Of Love
RAPID CITY, S.D. (AP) — Marilyn Simon had been searching over a year for a pair of dance instructors to work at her Rapid City studio when Michelle and Chris Small walked through her door.
“I had trouble finding people who specialized in couples dancing, and then Michelle and Chris Small asked if I was hiring,” said Simon, owner and manager of Gotta Dance — Dance & Fitness Studio. “They didn’t even know I was looking.”
The Smalls have been dancing together for 22 years, with Chris starting out as Michelle’s student in 1993, then her teaching assistant for 10 years, and finally her co-instructor. The two got married in 2004 in their ballroom, the Rapid City Journal ( ) reported.
“We met at the Portland Rock and Rodeo bar, where dancers would go at night,” Chris said. “And we just loved dancing together.”
Since then, they’ve helped facilitate 12 world champion country-western dancers, including eight of their students.
The couple moved to Rapid City from Portland, Ore., earlier this year, and are now teaching together on a weekly basis at Gotta Dance — Dance & Fitness Studio, 412 Oshkosh St., where their lessons include a Friday night introductory level class followed by a dance party for singles and couples.
This Friday’s event is an ’80s Dance Party starting at 8:30 p.m., with a lesson preceding at 7:30 p.m. Admission is $10 for the lesson and party or $5 for the party alone.
“It’s a great opportunity for couples, because it gives them a chance to learn to communicate,” Michelle said.
“It’s very intrapersonal,” Chris said. “It’s amazing how emotions, mostly positive, come out between couples as they reach a mutual understanding through dance.”
While many instructors specialize in one or two dance styles, the Smalls are equally at home teaching ballroom waltzes and tangos, the cha cha or the mambo. This Friday night the two will host a Caribbean-style dance party.
“We really deal in all dance styles,” Michelle said. “We don’t have a preference. We love it all.”
“We love the spark of understanding that comes through working through dances together,” Chris added.
To the Smalls, dance is more than just an escape from everyday tech-filled life, but a chance to try on different roles. “You get to be all types of characters, from a regal waltz dancer to a fiery, tempestuous salsa dancer,” Michelle said.
It’s hard work on top of being good fun, the Smalls said.
“We have a friend who’s a pilot, and he says that learning to dance is harder than learning to fly a plane, because it’s like a foreign language at first,” Chris said.
“But we’re connection-based teachers,” Michelle said. “We teach people to learn to lead and follow, to not make things up as they go along, to enjoy the leader taking charge and the follower keeping an active role.”
The Smalls’ dance lessons are open to all adults, whether they want one quick lesson, a fun night out or a chance to return again and again to master dance.
“If they have one lesson, we want them to have a good experience,” Michelle said. “If they want to come back regularly, it’s a building process, but a fun one that can give you new confidence as a person.”
Anyone can learn how to dance, said Chris, adding that he wasn’t always so graceful on the dance floor.
“I was one of those kids who skipped prom because he said dance was stupid,” Chris said. “And my marching band teacher always said I was too stiff. But even if you think you’ve got two left feet and they’re both peg legs, anyone can learn to dance.”
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Information from: Rapid City Journal,
