All the Right Moves Aren't Enough

If you go take lessons in couple or ballroom dancing, odds are a pattern of steps is going to be drilled in to you. You sign up for a six-week program and you are more or less guaranteed to know a version of swing or salsa or waltz or two-step by the end of the series. And you probably will feel like you have gotten your money’s worth because, like a parrot singing It’s a Small World, your feet can sing some salsa steps. Maybe you can even dip your partner! 

But studying under Sharon Boies at All the Right Moves and More Dance Studio is a whole ‘nother world. 

Sharon is only secondarily interested in step patterns. She is a movement specialist as well as a dance coach. Her goal is for you to feel utterly at ease moving and dancing, and she does not believe that freedom comes from rote memorization. She thinks that ease comes from not thinking—at least not thinking with the left brain. Sharon will tell you how the left brain operates and show you how it needs to be balanced by the right brain along with the body’s intuition. A graceful dance looks graceful and feels amazing because it respects the design of the dancers’ bodies. You thought opening a can of tuna was something mundane and not worth thinking about, and it most likely never crossed your mind that the exact same complex movement is used to make a dance beautiful. Once you do realize it, once you realize that the practically reflexive pivoting you perform because you forgot to lock your car is exactly what you need to do on the dance floor, learning to dance is not a new task of memorization but a discovery of the riches already built-in to your muscle memory. For a lot of us, the discovery and self-awareness may also entail some correction of our posture, but that is all for the good, right? Unless, of course, you want to look like a preview of the zombie apocalypse…

Dancing can be intimidating for many reasons, chief among them fear of rejection, fear of failure, fear of intimacy. During her classes, Sharon will challenge her students to face their fears and overcome them to find new peace and delight. She knows the fears well, her many decades as a professional performer and teacher have given her plenty of experience. Another common fear is a discomfort in one’s own skin or poor self-image, whether it was the result of self-deprecation or abusive experiences. Sharon will ask you to recognize the unique gifts of the body you have been given and use them to your advantage on the dance floor. She will also teach you to be aware of your partner(s), how to treat them respectfully, what body language encourages potential partners and what body language keeps them at a distance. In their details, her lessons on a good dancing relationship—which requires, above all, keeping lines of communication open by maintaining a healthy physical tension and personal space—could just as well function as the recipe for a strong marriage. 

Beyond body language, Sharon teaches body mechanics. Ever get stuck in the middle of a dance wondering what you are supposed to do next? Chances are you and/or your partner are not being considerate of the body’s design. Dances set up for the next move so that the movement is smoothly elegant, and where and when you shift your weight, how your arms are turned, whether your hands are clenched on your partner’s or held delicately, whether your knees and elbows are bent and your back straight, which way you are looking, and even whether you are talking can all either block or facilitate that fluidity.  

When it comes to the dances, Sharon follows the unit system originated by Skippy Blair. It is a simple notation of dance steps and patterns, an equivalent to the modern musical notation. Having the notation, essentially a picture, rather than exclusively verbal instructions helps to reduce the interference of the left brain in the learning process. Instead of teaching one dance at a time, Sharon uses this method to first teach you the definition of dance and what is common to all dances. Eventually she highlights the minor differences that make each dance unique, thus saving you time and energy re-memorizing the same steps in multiple separate class series. The beauty of this approach is the versatility it confers. You can now go to any venue, evaluate any song and choose which step will fit best to the rhythm, while your friends who took the memorization track have to sit out everything except the swing numbers they learned at swing dance class. You will be comfortable inviting any partner, and comfortable respectfully extricating yourself from any unfortunate pairing. Whatever skill level your partner possesses, Sharon’s teaching will have prepared you to accommodate them with simple body mechanics. Rather than sticking strictly to a memorized pattern, Sharon encourages creativity and freedom so dancing is fun, although certainly if you wish to be predictable that is entirely your prerogative. The only mistake she absolutely will not tolerate is stopping the dance—such a natural left-brain response to perceived “failure” or confusion. Keep going. The body will not remember mistakes, but it will remember the correct movement. Amazing, but true.

Undoubtedly Sharon will tell you memorable stories to help you along, because this is a class as much about mindset as about putting your feet in a sequential pattern to music. She, the music and the dance are there to assist in reintegrating both sides of the brain with the body, whether you are dealing with the world’s ordinary overemphasis on left-brain activity or suffering from the severely disintegrating effects of a traumatic experience. The mission statement on her office door at 4001 Birch Street, Newport Beach reads:

 All the Right Moves exists to use rhythm, movement, and dance to provide healing, build self-esteem, nurture relationships, and give purpose to every person who walks in to this studio.

This Reedsy prompt-inspired piece was supposed to be about a mentor whose methods are controversial. Sharon’s method is not common. Perhaps that makes it controversial by default. However, her mission statement just quoted is the controversy to take in to account. So much of what is going on around you is designed to make you afraid, ashamed, sick or hurt, lonely and purposeless. For you, and for the wedding couples, the married couples, the professionals, the young adults she works with every day, Sharon is putting up a magnificent fight with an underrated weapon of exquisite beauty.