Tell us a little about your dance background.
The majority of my dance background comes from my 11 years of participating in colorguard and winterguard, which for the most part is a mix of ballet, contemporary, jazz, and lyrical dance. Along the way, however, I’ve taken classes in hip hop, swing, bellydance, line dance and various ballroom and Latin dances. I find that each style offers choreography that best accentuates certain types of music. Plus, one of my favorite parts of dancing is performing, and each of these styles typically has an emotion that best fits it; more styles means a spectrum of characters I can portray and emote.
Tell us about how you first came to BFF.
I actually started as a student who had recently moved to AZ, and was looking to find an affordable ballroom, hip hop or jazz class that allowed adults (note: this is about as easy as finding a unicorn). At the time, BFF had an instructor who taught a class called Latin Cardio; I signed up and between the instructor being very welcoming and me just straight up enjoying the class, I became a permanent student, at least until I became an instructor!
How long have you been an instructor at BFF?
I’ve been teaching at BFF for approximately three and a half years.
What is your favorite thing about teaching at BFF?
My favorite thing hands down is getting to watch my students progress. Even in a single Club BFF class, a new student will often be a bit shakey with picking up the choreography at first, but by the end when we are doing a review of the class, they are nailing the steps just like my more tenured students who have been coming for months! It’s really rewarding to see them smile when they realize they’ve gotten the moves down.
What is your favorite thing to teach at BFF, either a class or a skill?
It’s probably not a surprise that I’d have to say Club BFF (as it’s the only class I currently teach). It’s fun to incorporate new styles of dance to give some flair to tranditional cardio fitness, and I love getting to play DJ and take requests from my students!
If someone was thinking about joining but wasn’t sure, what would you tell them?
It’s normal to try a new place and feel very uncomfortable, not knowing what you’ll be stepping into or what everyone else there will think about you, but one of the things I love most about our studio is that everyone, from the instructors and staff to the clientele, are very down-to-earth people, who really just care about health and fitness and having a good time doing it!