I have seen it with my own eyes, women who could barely look me in the eye when they first come through the door of the dance studio, shyly inquiring about the dance classes offered in the brochures and website asking questions such as: "Do you think I could dance like I did when I was a child?" "Do you think I am too old to start again?" "I always wanted to dance, do you think it is too late for me?" "I have never tried dance, will others laugh at me?"

I have seen people going through life changes, children leaving home, divorce, death of loved ones, moves from far across the country, and loneliness. I believe in dance and its healing powers, I believe in dance to fulfill the need for human connection, and I believe in dance to achieve the need for self expression.

I lived for many years without dance in my life, after I got married my dancing stopped and I missed it.

I remember one night in 1986 at the drive-in movie with my husband and children looking across at another screen as our movie was ending and seeing Patrick Swayze leaping from a stage to the dance floor below, (if you have seen the movie, you know which scene) and being mesmerized. Who was that? I had to see that movie, and the next day, with my 2 year old daughter in my lap, saw Dirty Dancing for the very first time. For several years after that, every night when I could not sleep, I got up and watched all or part of Dirty Dancing and dreamed of being one of the dancers. I had such a deep longing inside me that I sometimes felt an ache inside that I could not make go away.

When the Walkman stereo became popular, like so many, I used music during my walking and/or running sessions. Eventually, I began to racewalk because it fit with the Latin beats and 70’s disco beats that were my favorites. Now I had my dance outlet. My racewalking partners could always tell during training and races when I had on "my music" because my gait and my steps changed, I was dancing through those workouts and races. I still love racewalking to Latin music, and I love dancing to Latin and R&B beats.

Abby Bella was born out of my deep desire to dance. The idea for and adult dance studio just popped into my head one night and it stuck. When I first opened, I took all of the classes and realized that dance technique classes are really hard and I am not a very good student, as my instructors will tell you, but classes like Zumba were easy and still made me feel like a dancer. It was around this time that I also discovered that there are clubs for people my age who want to dance. Who knew? I certainly didn’t and was thrilled to go with my girl friends and dance the night away.

Nothing hurts when I dance, I have no worries when I dance, and I am free when I dance. I have gotten away from dancing in the studio because the studio is where I work. I am going to get back to dancing this week, because my life has gotten away from me again, my fault this time, and I need to dance.