Area locals stay sharp and active with Irene's Country Dancers classes

Irene Reynolds has taught line dancing for 22 years. She got her start with dancing as a teenager, though. Her family would go to local dances on Saturday nights, and she learned to dance by dancing with others who "had the patience to work with [her]." Years later, she was a member of The Country Club Line Dancers. After the group's instructor left in 1995, Irene's classmates nominated her as the new instructor. Since then, she's taught line dancing to students young and old, but most of her current students are senior citizens.

The average age of her students is mid-60s, and their attendance ebbs and flows with their life changes. As her students become grandparents, they dance less frequently so they can spend more of their free time with their grandkids. Most of her students come back, though, and Irene has had students dance well into their 90s. Currently, her oldest student dances three to four times a week and is 86 years old, "And they don't look it!" she says. Although the majority of her students are women, there are several men who come to her classes each week.

One of those men is 75-year-old Terry Cooper. He's been a student of Irene's for 10 years and keeps coming back because he likes dancing -- especially the partner dancing -- and she's easy to learn from. He says he took classes taught by another instructor prior to Irene's class, but he struggled to learn from them. "When I went to Irene, that's when I really started learning," he says. That's one of Irene's favorite moments in class -- seeing how her students improve in such a short amount of time and the self-confidence they get from it. "That's my biggest reward," Irene says.

Another student of Irene's, Barb Kinsey, has been dancing with Irene's Country Dancers since 1999. Irene's patience and welcoming presence is what keeps her coming back. "Plus," she says, "it's a great workout." Irene agrees: "Dancing is one of the best exercises you can do for your memory and your body."

For those thinking line dancing isn't a great workout, "She takes no breaks!" Cooper says. Irene knows how to keep the class fun and engaging, too. She doesn't teach the same dances over and over. Instead, she's constantly teaching her students new steps and moves, which keeps them physically and mentally fit. Irene knows not everyone is a fan of country music, either. She switches the music up frequently, so there's something for everybody: "If it's got a beat, I'll find a way to dance to it!"

The best part of Irene's classes, for both her and her students, isn't the workout, though. It's the friendships they've made. Kinsey says she loves the people she dances with.

"I've met some great people that I'm really good friends with now," she says.

For Irene, it's the connections she's made with friends that are more like family.

"My dance family means the world to me," she says.

You can find Irene teaching line dancing at VFW Post 3838 in Cape Girardeau on Tuesdays and Wednesdays and at the VFW in Perryville, Missouri, on Thursdays. She also teaches two days a week at Saint Francis Medical Center's Fitness Plus for group exercise classes and she even travels out of state to places like Indiana and Wisconsin to teach at workshops.

Irene hosts her own line dancing workshop every June in Cape Girardeau, where she invites all her students, plus a few out-of-state guest instructors as well. She held her 11th annual workshop this year, which had about 125 attendees, and she's already planning next year's event.

Kinsey was one of the attendees this year and has attended several of Irene's past workshops.

"It's always on my calendar for June," she says. "It's one of my favorite weekends, it brings a lot of people to Cape and you meet some great people."

You don't have to be a senior citizen to go to Irene's classes or her workshop. She's had students in their 20s come to class, too. For people of any age who are nervous or hesitant to take a line dancing class, Cooper says, "Just come check out Irene's class."

You'll get a great workout, meet some new people and learn something new.

For more information about classes, call (573) 382-0008.