PERSONALITIES: People line up for this dance instructor

Tim Leininger, Journal Inquirer, Manchester, Conn.
·6 min read

Feb. 11—ENFIELD — Nicole Gagne-Dion loves to line dance and has been doing so for nearly 35 years. Two and half years ago she turned this passion of hers into a weekly dance class in the banquet hall above the Pierogi Queen Bakery and Delicatessen and Smoke Barbecue at 4 Alden Ave. every Wednesday night at 6:30 p.m.

"I started my dance classes here in September of 2020," Gagne-Dion said, of the place where she also works as the banquet hall manager and coordinator for the bakery.

Starting a line dance class at the height of the COVID-19 pandemic ended up being a happy reprieve for many people who had been cooped up at home for months and wanted something to do.

NICOLE GAGNE-DION

Who she is: Line dance instructor.

Hometown: Enfield.

Teaches at: The banquet hall above the Pierogi Queen Bakery and Delicatessen and Smoke Barbecue at 4 Alden Ave. in Enfield, every Wednesday night at 6:30 p.m.

Contact: On Facebook: country line dancing in Enfield.

Quote: "Line dancing is like a montage of a lot of different genres. You learn a little bit of Latin, you learn hip-hop. You learn moves you wouldn't assume you would do in a country line dance class."

"Everybody did the masks and stood away from each other and abided by the law and we got off OK," Gagne-Dion said. "No one was sick, no one was worried.

"Everybody was ecstatic about getting out of the house," she said. "I had to have two nights to be able to break up the room, to have enough space because people were wanting to break the door and get out of their house. As time went, we got the OK over the phone to take off the masks and as soon as I announced it, that was it. They all took the mask off."

Gagne-Dion said she started to learn how to line dance when she was 16 in high school in 1989.

She said she had a pretty quiet life growing up in East Windsor, participating in high school cheerleading and drumming in the school band.

"I was studying business at the time," she said. "We didn't have a lot of options of what we could branch out to, like the kids now."

After high school, she said, she worked retail and moved up to Cummington, Massachusetts, in 1994 when she got married.

"I worked up until I was put on bed rest for pregnancy," she said. "Then I took five years off and my child went to school. I started working as a para in his school. I stayed there for about four or five years. Then we moved back to Connecticut."

The entire time, she said, she stayed involved in dancing, and since 1994 has been teaching line dancing.

"I knew people up north that danced, so I was still involved," she said. "I would guest instruct every once in a while, but I would drive 65 miles back here once a week, twice a week to hold classes here as well."

Gagne-Dion said that most people equate line dancing with country music, but it is more than that.

"Line dancing is like a montage of a lot of different genres," she said. "You learn a little bit of Latin, you learn hip-hop. You learn moves you wouldn't assume you would do in a country line dance class."

In 2010, she said, she set out on her own as a dance instructor, teaching in whichever location she could get throughout Enfield, East Windsor, South Windsor, Windsor Locks, and East Hartford.

""We were at the Ramada Inn, the KFC ... Polish homes, anywhere you could get in with a floor," she said.

Currently she teaches one class Wednesday nights, averaging 60 to 80 students a class.

One Sunday a month, she said, she hosts an open dance night at the hall for $10.

"It's an open dance, whether you know how to dance or not," she said. "It's here at 6:30 p.m. You can bring your own snacks, your own drinks, everything that you want. We have a small lesson in the middle of the night so people who maybe don't know how to dance can have a chance to get up and learn. It's mostly for people who are already familiar with dancing and it's their night to come out and have fun."

Gagne-Dion said she is grateful for the support she gets from her students.

"I tell them all the time that they are what make me," she said. "I wouldn't be able to do this without them and I love it because even if it's a first time beginner and they think they're doing horrible, I can see them and I watch them week to week and I get to see their progress. Even though they don't think they're doing well, I can see it. It just makes me feel really good. I'm able to show somebody something that they don't know.

"I get to leave everything at the door if I'm having a bad day," she said about how dancing affects her. "It's the longest thing I have ever done. For 34 years, so there's something to it. I wouldn't like it if I didn't like the socializing and the people that I do this with. It wouldn't be the same. It's your one night that you get to go out; the one night you put aside for yourself."

Gagne-Dion said she'd like to keep dancing and teaching line dancing as long as she can.

"As long as someone will rent space to me that I can afford, I'm gonna try to keep it going," she said. "It's been something I've done with my family. My whole family got involved around the same time in '89. My mom, my sisters, my brother-in-laws, my nieces, my nephews. It's something that has been very family oriented. I would love to be able to keep it going. I'd love to be able to continue to show people and give them an activity that they can look forward to going out and as long as my body is willing to allow me to do it."

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