Still dancing, still dreaming

Dancing is a way to celebrate life, and Jan Tenzer, a septuagenarian with a passion for line dancing, has plenty to celebrate after two impressive experiences this summer.

Tenzer has lived and taught line dancing in Estes Park for 14 years. At 5’1”, she is young at heart, physically fit, dances about seven hours a week, and is still reaching new milestones in her career.

Tenzer’s greatest achievement this summer was getting her original choreography for a new line dance approved and registered with Copperknob, one of the world’s largest online databases for line dances with over 180,000 registered line dances.

She had always wanted to choreograph an original dance but didn’t have the confidence to submit something until this summer.

Tenzer heard the new song “Hotter than July” in a Hallmark movie, “Absolutely Devoted to You,” this summer and really liked it. She says she quickly created a new dance with no problem. “It just came to me,” she says. “I just started dancing.” 

She then documented the dance step by step on an official CopperKnob dance sheet. Step by step, she described every move her feet made –  every beat, every direction, every turn, every hold – named the dance after the song, and submitted it.

To Tenzer’s delight, her dance was approved and added to the CopperKnob repository last month.

Tenzer debuted the dance Aug. 29 during her weekly Sunday line-dancing class at the Estes Park Rec Center, where more than 20 students learned the steps and celebrated her achievement. 

Tenzer added another accomplishment to her resume in July when she taught line dancing to more than 100 teenagers during a late-night class at the YMCA of the Rockies during the National Youth Conference. 

While some 70-year-olds have trouble staying awake until 10 p.m., Tenzer was wide awake and dancing the night away with the teens and her husband Neil, also in his 70s. “We all had a ball,” says Tenzer.

Tenzer began teaching line dancing in Estes after moving from Miami in 2012, first to friends in her garage, then as a volunteer at the senior center. Since then, she has been hired to teach at the senior center, the Estes Park Rec Center, and the YMCA.

Julie Moncrief, one of Tenzer’s students since the early garage classes, said Tenzer’s clear instruction and passion make her an exceptional teacher.

“She loves it and wants you to love it. She enjoys dancing so much that you enjoy it just seeing how much she enjoys it,” says Moncrief.

Tenzer’s repertoire has grown from just two dances in 2012 to 142, most of which she learned on YouTube.

What does Tenzer like most about teaching dance?

“People’s smiles and the joy on their faces make me happy,” she says, “when it feels like we are dancing all together, like a family.”

She also extols the many benefits of dancing.

“It’s good exercise, it’s fun, and great medicine for your mind.”

She also advises students to put their own style on every dance. 

“Relax, be with the beat, find your own comfort zone. Be as sexy as you want, but keep your clothes on,” she says with a laugh.

Although Tenzer said she has been “a bookkeeper all my life,” a photo of her at age 23 reveals another side of her story: She was one of three singers and dancers in a band called Al Hughes and the Smiling Phases. Wearing a costume borrowed from a burlesque group, Tenzer looks like a glamorous Las Vegas showgirl, complete with sparkling accessories and stylish 1970s hair.

Tenzer also worked as an aerobics instructor, and, like many people who grew up in the 1950s and 1960s, she danced in her living room watching American Bandstand as a teenager. 

Today, she says she and her husband are very happy with retirement in Estes Park. “We don’t need to take vacations. My dreams have come true. As my husband often says, ‘We came for the mountains and stayed for the people.’”