Dance as a Healing Journey: Partner-Dancing in Philadelphia

Lixin, Qin

“Do you like dancing?” I ask.

“Love it. I love dancing.” Aaron Mitchell, dressed in a black T-shirt and pants, with a twinkle in his eye, answered me in an unequivocal tone.

Aaron has been dancing for 9 years as a professional dancer. Now he is one of the instructors of the Concierge Ballroom.

Colleen Cheong founded Concierge Ballroom in February of 2017. She was a molecular biologist before becoming a professional dancer.

“I had always intended to become an endocrinologist. That was my career path. ” Colleen says. However, when she moved to Philadelphia, worked for a while, she changed her mind and became a full-time dancer in 2011.

Colleen’s love for dancing began at the University of Delaware. She joined the ballroom team there and learned a few different styles. “So I started actually as a salsa Bachata dancer. That was really my passion. ” Colleen says.

After moving to Philadelphia, she joined a dance studio and got more interested in some other styles. “As my careers changed, I’ve competed professionally,” Colleen says, “I’ve actually competed in many different realms. And then I ended up competing in ballroom dances. So waltz, foxtrot, Tango, Viennese Waltz, took a break from competing to open up this space.”

Concierge Ballroom is a dance studio, located in South Philadelphia. If you’re walking down 7th Street in South Philadelphia toward Center City on a Thursday night, and you pass some floor-to-ceiling windows and see some silhouettes inside the windows are dancing, it’s the Concierge Ballroom Dance Studio. These people are taking a West Coast Swing class under yellow lights Thursday night.

There is a sentence on the Concierge Ballroom website, “Let us make our home, your perfect space”.

Colleen explains, “one of the reasons why I built this was to make it a really inclusive place. And so one of the best compliments I get all the time from students who come here is that they feel very welcomed and not judged and very at ease right away. Partner-dancing is a way to really connect with people. And I think it’s important to have a safe space to connect.”

Julie Becker, Who is over 60 years old, has been learning partner dance in this dance studio for a month and a half. “This is the one place where I get to feel like me,” Julie says. She has had some health issues and has to walk with a cane. “But when I’m in here, with Aaron’s help, I get to go ahead and move the way I used to move. And I love that!” Julie smiles.

“I’ve danced since I was little. And I’ve done different kinds of dancing. And I always feel super connected between the movement and my body. And I don’t always feel that in other situations.”

MichaleS.finisheshisprivatelesson,butstaystopracticeonhisownfora whileattheConciergeBallroominPhiladelphiaonThursday,April20,2023.

“Why do I choose partner-dancing? I enjoy that. The most that communication between another person is wonderful, just being able to the communication that takes place between another person when you get on a higher level. That’s what Dancing all about. And it’s a wonderful feeling.”

Francesca Iandsberg enjoys dancing a lot.

One day, she was on her way back to the car. Then she was looking in the window when she passed by the studio. “I saw Colleen teaching a student. And I’m thinking to myself, this would be a great activity to do.”

“So you just saw it and you want to do it?” I ask.

“Yeah! Definitely!” The black eyeliner underlines Francesca’s deep eyes.

“Dancing brings me a lot of joy,” she adds,“Accomplishment, exercise, art form. Wearing fashion, the ability to wear my makeup. That just makes me happy.”

FrancescaIandsbergistakingaprivatelessonsattheConciergeBallroominPhiladelphiaonThursday,April20,2023.“Iamafastlearner.”Shehasbeencomingtothisstudioforthreeyears,andshedancesat least two to three times a week.

Aaron regards dance as a form of therapy for a lot of people. Aron says, “So the first reason is it puts you in the present moment. You don’t think about your problems in the dance. You are here now.”

“It’s also because a lot of people who dance partner dances don’t dance all the time. So it feels good to them to move their bodies. Because as people, we need to, no matter what you’re doing in life, you should keep moving, you got to keep exercising. You can’t just stay there, and lose your ability to move,” Aaron adds.

“And also it’s a lot of people. It’s fun. So you pair the fun with being in the present moment, and having it be physical. A lot of people feel better leaving than when they came in.” Aaron says.

“Partner-dancing speaks to me more than other forms of dances.I enjoyed putting on a performance and showing what I’ve learned, but it’s not about just being in the spotlight. And I think the non social dances are more about putting on a show. ” Daniel says.

Daniel Sheiner is dancingwithEllieSmall (above) attheConcierge BallroominPhiladelphiaon Friday,April21,2023.Hehas beendancingfor10years,he says:“Danceisasocialactivity.It’sanopportunitytomeet peopleandmakealotofgood friends.”

After practicing horseback riding and fencing, Alex Morrese explained to me why he turned to dance and fell in love with it. “I liked them in the first place. And it turned out that what I liked was learning how to move my body in specific ways, how, how the body works, how to move correctly. ”

He adds, “I asked myself, what can I do? Where I would learn those same skills but without having my face and some guy sweaty ass armpit. And the obvious answer was dance.”

Aaron points out the difference between sports and dance. “So with sports, like the goal with sports is usually mostly competitive,it’s like you’ve played a win, right? So it doesn’t really matter how you win, right?” Aaron says.

He emphasizes, “Whereas dancing, there’s usually not. Nobody’s trying to win. Thinkabout it like music, when you listen to music, you’re not listening to a song to get to the end of the song. You’re listening to the song because you like the whole song.”

“I immediately fell in love with ballroom dance. It was everything I wanted to be and more.” Alex says.

MichaleLaskowski(below)usesabrushto wipethedustoffhisdancingshoesbeforedancingat theConciergeBallroominPhiladelphiaonThursday, April20,2023.

AlexMorrese(above)is warmingupfortheThursdaynight WestCostSwinggroupclassatthe ConciergeBallroominPhiladelphia onThursday,April20,2023.

“It’s always better to dance with someone else than just dance by yourself.” Michale says.

Colleen meets her husband through dancing. Mike Mays, Colleen’s husband, now takes the west coast swing class every Thursday in the Concierge Ballroom.

“We met not here, but we met dancing.” Mike says. In fact, there are several couples in the Concierge Ballroom, enjoying partner dances.

Megan Gerry and Ian Kindon are a couple, and they did their wedding dance in the studio.

Megan has been dancing with Colleen for many years and took Ian Kingdon with her after they met, something he had wanted to do since childhood, “young me like it, old me also.

“When I see her dancing like this,”Ian looks at Megan, who is dancing with others, “I am not there but drive me there.”

IanKindonasksMegan Gerrytodancewithhimonlasttime attheConciergeBallroominPhiladelphiaonThursday,April20,2023. Attheendofthesong,hekissesher: “Nowyouarefreetogo.”

David Small and Ellie Small started dancing on a date, but continued for ten years.

Colleen introduces herself on the website with this: “Colleen now seeks to help others find greater fulfillment in life through dance”.

When I ask her how to find fulfillment in life through dance and what kind of fulfillment.

She answers: “ I think it’s a very personal thing for each person I can say for my individual journey. Dance helped me, I moved to Philly, I didn’t know a lot of people. So it gave me a social environment that I could kind of flourish in. It also taught me how to be more confident and present myself and be more sharp talking in front of people. It also just helped me with my general mental health. So that was my journey. ”

Colleen continues, “So I have people come in for different reasons. I’ve been very lucky to see people on that journey. But really, my goal is to help them find joy in some way.”