❝Everywhere I go now (grocery store aisles, waiting rooms, ER rooms, city sidewalks), this natural-born introvert is the poster child for line dancing…shamelessly relentless when it comes to encouraging others to join in the fun. Line dancing is a worldwide phenomenon. Who knew?❞

How does a person with 40+ years of business and training consulting end up being a line dance instructor?  Pure, unadulterated good fortune.

During her professional career, Kathy Indermill consulted in the areas of technical training, marketing and sales training, management development, and personal development. She worked with privately-held, publicly-held, franchise and public sector organizations. Her broad experience base includes consulting for the computer, telecommunications, pharmaceutical, financial services, public utilities, and hospitality industries, as well as for small business, military and civil service applications.

She is known for her broad experience and expertise in instructional design as well as: job analysis, communication skills, coaching, management education, personal development life coaching, and various forms of information packaging and re-purposing content.

Her abiding domain of interest is personal development, specifically in the arena of transformation.

In 2015, a neighbor invited her to go to a line dancing class, held at the Carlsbad Community Senior Center. Little did she know that first line dancing class would both re-ignite a passion for dancing, and launch a new domain of lifelong learning. She quickly became addicted—taking multiple classes for 3 years (Beginner Line Dancing, High Beginner Line Dancing, and Soul Line Dancing).

Humble Beginnings

When her first line dance instructor, Jeane Minsky, retired in November of 2018, Kathy eagerly volunteered to take over her class (even though she had no formal dance training, a less-than-optimal working memory, and being a slow learner when it comes to complex rhythms). This commitment involved redesigning the beginner class from top to bottom. What was once a 55-minute class of learning choreographed dances, is now a 75-minute class, as illustrated below. 

Kathy teaches beginner line dancing to a target population of students, ranging in age from 55 to 80+ years of age. She affectionately calls her class “the United Nations of line dancing” because so many different countries of origin are represented by her students.

Class Description: All are welcome–those with two left feet, those with little to no dance training at all, those who used to be dancers but are “rusty,” or those who just enjoy moving and want to have fun. This class is for everyone! Leave your perfectionism at the door.

How can a Beginner Line Dancing class accommodate students with such a wide range of entry level skills? The “secret sauce” to having a full dance floor of joy-filled students is VARIETY (the brain loves novelty). Based on her philosophy that everyone can dance if they want to, she constructs her class every week using this basic formula.

WINNING FORMULA

✅ Physical/mental preparation (pre-class freestyling & warm-ups

✅ Relaxed pacing (6 dances on the dance list= approximately 7 minutes of teaching per dance & 3 of minutes dancing with music)

✅ Teaching/training expertise (in adult learning specifically)

✅ Safe learning environment (both physical & psychological safety)

✅ Humor  (taking ourselves lightly as opposed to seriously)

✅ Truthfulness and vulnerability, specifically with regard to “mistakes”

✅ Musical selection variety (1920s to present day; different genres, different cultural influences)

✅ Dance selection variety (different skill levels and dance genres)

✅ Rare repetition of dances from week to week

 RESULT = HAPPY TEACHER! HAPPY STUDENTS!

Note:  Kathy’s personal and class motto is simply…  “Roll with it!”