About Juanita Croft







Juanita Croft completed a Career Certification in Adaptive Fitness from Foothill College.  The education she received in this program has given her the perspective to adapt dances so that everyone can participate even if they have difficulty with certain movements.  This is particularly important for senior participants as well as those with limited range of motion.

In addition to teaching classes, Juanita performs individually or with a group from the classes at other social engagements such as festivals, fundraisers, and parties. Many of the events allow she and her students to give back to the community by providing entertainment. 

The classes have also provided dance demonstrations at other senior facilities.  In this way they promote the line dancing classes specifically and line dancing as an exercise in general.


Benefits of Soul Line Dancing as exercise
Though most of this is anecdotal, the improvements observed include:
  • Improved endurance and stamina
  • Improved mobility and flexibility
  • Improved orientation and balance
  • Mental acuity
  • Helps maintain lowered blood pressure

Soul Line Dance is easily adapted to movements appropriate for every age group and capability.

Class format
Classes are taught in an hour and a half format:
  • For the first half hour or so, we do warm-up dances.  Because these are repeated each week, we do these with very little instruction.
  • Next we work with new dances or go over dances the participants want to review.  For these, the instructor does the following:
  • Demonstrates the complete sequence of the dance.
  • Breaks the dance down into smaller sequences with the class.  As the class gets comfortable with each piece, we build the dance until we have added all of the smaller sequences together.
  • Finally, she puts on the music so that we can practice
  • As the class works on each dance, alternative steps are presented and discussed when there is difficulty with a particular movement.
  • Alternative music is used so that dances can be done to a variety of tempos and durations.  Longer dances work on endurance.  Faster dances provide more aerobic exercise.  Intermediate/advanced dances provide more complexity of movement.
  • Participants are encouraged to focus on the names of steps (not the dances).  The instructor teaches new dances by calling out the steps as well as demonstrating them.
  • Classes for seniors are taught in a relaxed environment with plenty of breaks.