Barbara Miller, a pediatric nurse and dance instructor, likes the way line dancing helps her students exercise their brains as well as their bodies. “It’s like doing a crossword puzzle with your feet,” she says.
She’s also quick to discourage her prospective students – particularly the men — from being intimidated by the multiple steps. “My husband and I started line-dancing with a church group,” she says. “We started with a dance so repetitious – step-together-slide, step- together-forward – and repeated it until the men got it and were hungry for something else.”
With her partner, retired schoolteacher Julianne Carnathan, Miller chose a name for their classes that emphasized fun over finesse. “We called it Team 2 Left Feet to show that it’s not scary to get out and dance,” she says. “We let them know right off the bat that they’re not being judged.
Miller has been a pediatric nurse since 1995, working for 7 years at Children’s Healthcare, another 7 at Gwinnett Medical and currently at Piedmont Walton. She says that a significant part of her job is teaching American Heart Association CPR classes and PALS (Pediatric Advanced Life Support) classes.
Teaching is a passion for Miller, as well as being a means for her other passions to come together. “Teaching is what I feel like I can bring to the table,” Barbara Miller says. “If the skill is learning to balance on one foot, if the skill is learning to do the cha-cha, if the skill is learning to perform compression on toddlers, I want to teach it.”
Three years ago Miller and Carnathan met at a YMCA Zumba dance fitness classes at the YMCA and decided to start their own line-dancing classes. “She comes from kindergarten teaching,” Miller said. “Knowing my clinical brain from nursing and her knowing how to teach children, we developed a system.”
Currently Team 2 Left Feet teaches three classes a week: one on Tuesday evenings and two on Wednesdays. Miller says that they can have as few as seven and as many as 90 students at a time, but average about 15-30 per class, with most of them seniors but some in their 40s and 50s.
A beginner class at 2 Left Feet will often start with a one-wall dance, with the students facing in one direction. “In line dancing, someone will call out a sequence. It might be shuffle-step, it might be toe-struts, there are so many different calls. By coming to class, they learn the calls of the dance.”
Miller and Carnathan wear matching outfits, which helps their students recognize them, especially when they complete a set of line-dance steps and turn to face another direction. “They start out watching me and learn the dance, and when they turn to different walls, Julianne goes where they can see her.”
Miller says that their students wear pedometers during class to track their steps. “They can do two and a half miles in an hour class, and it’s much more fun than being on a treadmill.”
She’s quick to extol the health advantages of dance classes, which can be reinforced by the social aspects of getting out and making new friends. “We’re moving and enjoying the benefits of exercise. I can go on and on clinically about how it helps,” she says. “People who dance can tolerate pain better. Studies have found that being involved with community of dancers and listening to music can raise the pain threshold.”
Miller freely admits that, far from making money, she probably loses money in teaching the classes, but says that because she and her husband have two grown children who are unlikely to have kids of their own, her students almost serve as substitute grandchildren. “The money I would spend on grandchildren, I spend on dance lessons. I’m certified as an NTA [National Teachers Association] instructor. We bought a music license and insurance, we give a percentage to the venue – we probably come out with 75 cents profit.”
She still finds teaching to be enormously rewarding: “I enjoy that little ‘a-ha’ moment when my students realize ‘I’ve just learned how to do a dance!’”
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“It’s not only country music, we’ll throw in R&B. The electric slide is done to all kind of different songs. People who know line dancing can learn a 32-count system and put them in anything.
“They all love to do ‘Wagon Wheel’ at the beginning (class), they feel so accomplished by it.”
Team 2 Left Feet dance classes. 6:30 (beginner) and 7:15 p.m. (beyond beginner) Tuesdays, Bold Springs United Methodist Church, 7625 Bold Springs Rd., Monroe; 9:30 a.m. Wednesdays, 105 Generation Blvd., Loganville; 11:30 a.m. Wednesdays, YMCA, 50 Brad Akins Drive, Winder. facebook.com/Team2LeftFeet/
Barbara Miller offers these tips for dancing and exercising
Dance on the front of your foot, not the back, and choose footwear accordingly. “We offer dance socks, because we want to make sure they have a pivot point on the front of their foot. If you’re coming in wearing athletic shoes, proceed with caution,” Miller says.
Keep engaged even when taking a breather. “If they need to sit down or take a break, we encourage them to work their brain anyway by tapping their feet and staying engaged with the music and the social aspect.”
I’m dancing as fast as I can: Tips to keep up your energy level
Off the dance floor, Barbara Miller offers some rules of thumb to sustain one’s energy and spirit over a long shift or a busy week.
“If possible, step outside and if it’s during a daytime shift, absorb some light and energy from the sun, even if just for a couple of minutes.”
“During a break, listen to some peppy songs from, say, the 1960s! Music that evokes good times and gets your blood to pumping and your body to groovin’ makes you feel energetic.”
“Stay away from carbohydrates that cause insulin spikes. If you eat a carb, make sure you consume a little protein to go with it.”
“Stretch. Reach up, down, and side to side while taking deep breathes. And try to get a few coworkers to join you: This might bring on laughter, which is awesome as a natural energy booster!”
From Harvard Health Publishing, some additional tips to enhance your energy level:
1. Control stress
Stress-induced emotions consume huge amounts of energy. Talking with a friend or relative, joining a support group, or seeing a psychotherapist can all help diffuse stress. Relaxation therapies like meditation, self-hypnosis, yoga, and tai chi are also effective tools for reducing stress.
2. Lighten your load
One of the main reasons for fatigue is overwork. Overwork can include professional, family, and social obligations. Try to streamline your list of “must-do” activities. Set your priorities in terms of the most important tasks. Pare down those that are less important. Consider asking for extra help at work, if necessary.
3. Exercise
Exercise almost guarantees that you’ll sleep more soundly. It also gives your cells more energy to burn and circulates oxygen. And exercising causes your body to release epinephrine and norepinephrine, stress hormones that in modest amounts can make you feel energized. Even a brisk walk is a good start.
4. Avoid smoking
You know smoking threatens your health. But you may not know that smoking actually siphons off your energy by causing insomnia. The nicotine in tobacco is a stimulant, so it speeds the heart rate, raises blood pressure, and stimulates brain-wave activity associated with wakefulness, making it harder to fall asleep. And once you do fall asleep, its addictive power can kick in and awaken you with cravings.
5. Restrict your sleep
If you think you may be sleep-deprived, try getting less sleep. This advice may sound odd, but determining how much sleep you actually need can reduce the time you spend in bed not sleeping. This process makes it easier to fall asleep and promotes more restful sleep in the long run. Here’s how to do it:
• Avoid napping during the day.
• The first night, go to bed later than normal and get just four hours of sleep.
• If you feel that you slept well during that four-hour period, add another 15–30 minutes of sleep the next night.
• As long as you’re sleeping soundly the entire time you’re in bed, slowly keep adding sleep on successive nights.
6. Eat for energy
It’s better to eat small meals and snacks every few hours than three large meals a day. This approach can reduce your perception of fatigue because your brain needs a steady supply of nutrients.
Eating foods with a low glycemic index — whose sugars are absorbed slowly — may help you avoid the lag in energy that typically occurs after eating quickly absorbed sugars or refined starches. Foods with a low glycemic index include whole grains, high-fiber vegetables, nuts, and healthy oils such as olive oil. In general, high-carbohydrate foods have the highest glycemic indexes. Proteins and fats have glycemic indexes that are close to zero.
7. Use caffeine to your advantage
Caffeine does help increase alertness, so having a cup of coffee can help sharpen your mind. But to get the energizing effects of caffeine, you have to use it judiciously. It can cause insomnia, especially when consumed in large amounts or after 2 p.m.
8. Limit alcohol
One of the best hedges against the midafternoon slump is to avoid drinking alcohol at lunch. The sedative effect of alcohol is especially strong at midday. Similarly, avoid a five o’clock cocktail if you want to have energy in the evening. If you’re going to drink, do so in moderation at a time when you don’t mind having your energy wind down.
9. Drink water
What’s the only nutrient that has been shown to enhance performance for all but the most demanding endurance activities? It’s not some pricey sports drink. It’s water. If your body is short of fluids, one of the first signs is a feeling of fatigue.
