Belle James

When you arrive at one of Belle James’ line dancing classes, you are likely to hear one of her favorite songs playing, “Feel It Still” by Portugal. The Man: “Ooh woo, I’m a rebel just for kicks, now/ I been feeling it since 1966, now/ Might be over now, but I feel it still.”

Not only do the lyrics reference earlier periods that James and her peers remember, but they reflect the attitudes that this mature bunch exudes about James’ expertise: line dancing. James is no traditional line dancer. Experienced in ballet, tap and jazz, she says her passion for dancing derives from feeling the music. She’s a former art major, school teacher in Los Angeles and small business owner in Carmel.

In today’s class – for beginner to intermediate, held Wednesdays at the Sally Griffin Senior Center in Pacific Grove – James teaches simple steps and turns, that could make anyone of any age break a sweat. She plays the music loud and warms up the students with a review on the steps in the dance “K is for Kicks” that they are in the process of learning. In James’ advanced classes, students are learning the “Rhumba and Roses” dance and the famous Monterey Turn, a step developed in Monterey, and the only dance step that is distinct to line dancing.

Weekly: When did you begin line dancing?

James: My husband had passed and my friend dragged me to my first class at Chautauqua Hall in Pacific Grove, 25 years ago. She said, “You like to dance. We’ve got to go over here.” But I hated it. I absolutely hated it. I thought you’ve got to learn all these stupid steps. I just want to dance. I don’t want to learn all these steps to do line dancing.

Well, I kept going for the exercise, and for something to do after work. So, after I learned that you could really dance here, I also noticed this girl there who was always smiling, and I thought, “I want to do that. I want a smile on my face.” And because of her, and because Pat Nash was a good teacher, I just kept going.

Now you teach line dancing. How many women participate as opposed to men?

A lot more women – gentlemen, if you want to meet women…

The women who participate – I used to think they were all like me, either divorced or widowed. And it turns out, many, many, many of them are married. Their husbands just don’t like to dance.

But the men that do dance are really good. It’s a whole different atmosphere with men in the class. If they are strong enough and younger, they can make moves that we typically can’t, like the electric slide.

Are there health benefits to line dancing?

There is a study out of UCLA. They were trying to see what the best exercise was to forestall Alzheimer’s. They figured out that line dancing scored very high to deter and hold off the progress of it. It’s because in line dancing, you have to remember the steps, while listening to music. You can’t say, “Oh, I just learned the pattern.” You have to match it to the music. So, your brain is kept active.

And with line dancing, you’re getting cardio. Plus it’s socializing, which we need when we get older because so many people get isolated.

Can those of us with two left feet get the hang of it?

Patience. Don’t be too hard on yourself. Hang in there. With line dancing, you have to take at least four classes before you’re going to feel like you’ve done anything. Anybody who starts will feel like they have three left feet. After about four lessons, all of a sudden, you’ll have an aha moment, and say, “I can do a vine. I can do that. She said a vine, she’s teaching a different dance, but it started with a vine, and I can do that.” And this is what happens. Your body learns it. You don’t have to consciously think. So, turn on the music.

What other types of dance do you enjoy doing or watching?

I really like theater shows. I like some hip-hop. I get bored with any one kind of music, and line dancing isn’t just country-western music anymore; it’s across the board. I mean, we dance to all sorts of music right now, like Lady Gaga, Ricky Martin, Jennifer Lopez, Kenny Rogers – they are all really hot. So, it’s all over the board, and some people are real country fans. They only like country, and that’s OK. But personally, I get bored with the same music always. So, I intersperse waltzes, mambos, tangos, everything.