During my first visit to Sanford, I met up with three local line dancing teachers who I had been in touch with by e-mail for some months before coming to Sanford. They were all teaching line dancing classes at The Barn in Sanford, FL.

Back in 2005, I had choreographed a dance to Tennessee Birdwalk, which was Jack Blanchard and Misty Morgan’s biggest hit song. I had asked one of the dance teachers, Janis Graves, if she would be kind enough teach my dance during my visit and she had agreed to do so.

Springing my Surprise

All along my plan had been to get Jack and Misty to come and see my dance. With some difficulty, I managed to persuade them to join me at The Barn one evening … just to come and watch what line dancing was like. Jack and Misty had known about my dance ever since I had choreographed it, but they had never seen it being danced.

They had no idea about my arrangement with Janice, and when they heard their song start to play, their faces were a picture as it dawned on them what I had planned. They told me that they loved the dance, and Misty even had a go at dancing it, even though she is not a line dancer. Her forté, when she was younger, was tap dancing.

During those few days in Sanford, I attended the classes of all three of these teachers. I was surprised to find how many of the dances they were doing were ones that I already knew. I guess the international sharing of top favourite dances in the linedance magazines, and by the choreographers who toured the world, had a lot to do with that. Many other dances they were doing were ones that I found easy to follow and, of course, they taught a few new dances during their classes too. The classes were well attended and I made several new friend there.