NASHVILLE, Tenn. (WTVF) — For decades now, country line dancing and swing dancing have been big in Nashville. They've just appeared somewhere unexpected, where it could do a whole lot of good.
Every month, Matt Firestone and Becky Young teach hundreds how to country swing dance and how to line dance.
"We fill up classes every day of the week," Firestone nodded.
The two of them make the dancing look easy. As teachers for Turn Their Heads Country Dance, this is what they say.
"Everyone can dance!" Firestone said. "Anyone can dance. We can get anyone dancing."
Firestone and Young weren't in their usual studio space Friday afternoon. They'd made a trip out for a specific audience.
"We love seeing our residents thrive and do something they maybe haven't done in a while," said Anna Beauchamp of Blakeford Senior Life.
Residents were brought into a room at Woodcrest at Blakeford.
Beauchamp was helping to put on a Wild West Hoedown.
Firestone and Young danced in a room covered in wild west decorations.
It was there I met resident Cheryl McDonald.
I was told McDonald wins BINGO a lot. It was the reason for a WANTED poster on the wall. Cheryl McDonald. BINGO Thief.
"I saw that!" McDonald said with a smile.
McDonald especially loved watching Firestone and Young.
"They pretty good dancers?" I asked her.
"Yeah. They are," she answered. "The way they do stuff like that is so cool."
For years, McDonald was a clogger. She danced with her husband and her little girl.
"We clogged on a real big stage," McDonald remembered. "You just meet so many nice people."
McDonald told me after a stroke, she's been on a journey.
"Learning how to walk again, it's scary," McDonald said. "I know God will take care of me."
Just as Firestone and Young said, dancing is for everybody.
"As we get older, we don't stop doing the things we love, we find new ways to do them," Beauchamp said.
Firestone walked the group through some adapted choreography they could do from their chairs. It was set to Fishin' In the Dark by Nitty Gritty Dirt Band.
"As they loosen up, they realize they can do it, and it's a lot of fun," Firestone said. "Instant friendships, really. That's one of the things I love about it."
McDonald would often clog at benefit events for someone who needed help. She came to learn how much dancing can be used to do good for people.
"There's emotional wellness, physical wellness, spiritual, cognitive," Beauchamp said of the dancing. "It helps them get moving and to be part of something bigger than themselves."
"You get to share with others what you're getting to experience yourself," Young added. "It's just watching people learn and smile. We learn their stories. It's really a form of therapy for a lot of people."
Dancing is for everybody.
Do you have a positive, good news story? You can email me at forrest.sanders@newschannel5.com.
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