One area woman is hoping to bring together the Kenai Peninsula’s community of dance lovers into one easy-to-reach place and create more casual, social dance opportunities in the process.
Soldotna resident Sally Macy is the organizer of the Kenai Peninsula Social Dancers, a group she said will be dedicated to creating more chances to dance on the peninsula and sharing information about existing opportunities. She said all ages and ability levels will be welcome and dance styles will likely include everything from salsa to ballroom.
Macy said she drew inspiration for the group from the way social dancing worked where she lived in the Seattle area for the last 20 years. There, she said, evening dances for adults were regularly hosted by different groups of people and widely publicized.
“In Seattle there’s a lot of meet-ups,” Macy said. “The ‘meet-up’ isn’t big here.”
Macy attended a dance class in Soldotna offered through the Community Schools program, and said she met several people who didn’t know of any place to go for dancing, but wanted to learn anyway. She then created the Kenai Peninsula Social Dancers Facebook page, which she wants to use to identify and cultivate a group of dancers or people interested in dancing on the peninsula. Having them gathered in one place will make coordinating community dance opportunities easier, she said.
Macy’s hope for the group is that, as it grows, members will team up to provide spaces and opportunities for social dances and publicize them to each other. She also plans to post upcoming courses taught by local instructors.
“And I see that people will start opening up some venues that they don’t realize are valuable,” Macy said of the group’s future.
Macy said she hopes the group will also help people get out of the house and stay active during the dark winter months.
“It’s just a way of socializing and exercising at the same time,” she said.
Other opportunities for those looking to get moving include the Peninsula Artists in Motion, a nonprofit dance company for women based in Kenai, as well as the Kenai Performers, a theater group which performs a musical each year in addition to smaller productions throughout the year. Dance classes and Zumba are also offered through the Community Schools program in Soldotna.
Contact Macy at 425-223-1575 for more information on the Kenai Peninsula Social Dancers.
Reach Megan Pacer at megan.pacer@peninsulaclarion.com.
