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It’s been a while since I’ve written a blog post. Not because I haven’t had things to say, but because life has been full . Full in the kind of way that stretches you, asks more of you than you expected, and invites you to meet yourself honestly in the middle of it. I knew January was going to be a lot. I could see it coming. What I didn’t fully realize was how much it would ask of me, physically, emotionally, mentally, and spiritually. Back in October, I made the decision to

When the Place That Heals You Also Challenges You In my last post, I shared how I couldn’t always see my light and how dance helped bring it back. What I didn’t share then is this truth: Even the very thing that heals us can sometimes be the place where we feel the most out of alignment. Dance has been one of my greatest teachers, healers, and companions. And yet, there have been moments, seasons even, when stepping into certain dance environments made me want to shut down… o

When You Can’t Always See Your Light There were seasons of my life when I couldn’t always see my light. Not because it wasn’t there but because my past, my fears, and my pain clouded my vision. Trauma has a way of doing that. It convinces you that what happened to you defines you. That you are broken. That joy belongs to someone else. For a long time, my body held stories I didn’t yet have words for. My nervous system carried memories my mind was still learning how to underst

There’s a sentence I hear more often than almost any other when women walk into my classes for the first time: “I wish I had started sooner.” It’s usually followed by a nervous laugh. Sometimes a shrug. Sometimes tears welling up unexpectedly. And almost always, it comes from a place much deeper than dance. What they’re really saying is: I thought this part of my life had already passed. I thought joy like this was for younger bodies. I thought it was too late to begin someth

If you’re in Utah County and looking for adult West Coast Swing classes, somatic movement, or intentional dance spaces focused on connection and nervous system healing, I’d love to welcome you into one of my upcoming offerings through Dance to Uplift.

Looking Back with Thankfulness, Moving Forward with Intention As the calendar turns and a new year begins, I find myself doing what I always do at this time of year, pausing. Pausing to reflect. Pausing to breathe. Pausing to take in the fullness of what this past year has offered me. Dance has been the backdrop of so much of my life for decades now. It has held me through grief, guided me through healing, and taught me how to stay connected to my body when my mind wanted to

Joy as a Daily Practice: Relearning Joy, One Day at a Time In 2026, I am launching something deeply personal, intentional, and transformational: 365 Days to Uplift . This isn’t a challenge. It isn’t a content series just for the sake of consistency. And it definitely isn’t about perfection. 365 Days to Uplift is a daily devotion to joy, connection, presence, and embodied living. It is designed to support both your personal growth and your West Coast Swing journey , because th

Faith, Movement, and Choosing the Light After Darkness There are seasons of the year when my heart naturally turns inward. Times when reflection feels unavoidable. When gratitude rises up alongside grief. When I look back over the years, not with bitterness, but with a quiet awe, and recognize just how faithfully God has walked with me, even when I didn’t yet have the words for what was happening. This time of year always brings me back to one truth: God gave me dance. Not as

Rediscovering Freedom Through Movement, Connection, and West Coast Swing I’ve always been captivated by people who dance with complete abandon. You know the ones, their bodies move as if no one is watching, as if the world has fallen away and all that exists is the music, the moment, and the feeling moving through them. There’s something deeply magnetic about that kind of presence. It draws you in, not because it’s flashy or perfect, but because it’s real . It’s surrendered.

There are moments in life when something familiar suddenly feels new again, like a song you’ve heard a hundred times but only now understand. West Coast Swing has been that melody in my life for nearly three decades. From the first day I walked into a social dance, nervous and unsure of myself, to the years I spent competing, training, and later teaching… this dance has been a quiet thread woven through every chapter of my story. But lately, I’ve been feeling a shift, a pull

If you’ve followed my journey at all, you know dance has been one of my greatest teachers, long before I ever realized it. But this lesson… the one about connection over perfection … this one has shaped every part of how I show up in relationships. THE UNEXPECTED TEACHER -WHAT DANCING TAUGHT ME If there is one thing dance has taught me, over and over again, it’s that perfection is wildly overrated. And if you’ve known me for more than five minutes, you know that I didn’t alwa

Sometimes the most profound healing doesn’t happen in the big, dramatic moments… but in the quiet ones we once feared. Last weekend, I experienced a dance that revealed just how much my nervous system has healed and how deeply movement can guide us home to ourselves. If you’ve ever struggled with stillness, trust, or safety in connection, this story is for you. Introduction: When Silence Never Felt Safe For most of my life, silence was not a peaceful place. It was a space I

Peace wasn’t a feeling I grew up knowing. For most of my life, peace felt like something other people talked about in books or sermons or long, poetic quotes that sounded beautiful… but impossible for me. I lived in a body that felt unpredictable, a mind that felt scattered and unsafe, and a nervous system that was constantly bracing for something that wasn’t even happening anymore. And for years, I believed something was “wrong” with me. The Day Everything Changed: Finding P

Thanksgiving has always been one of my favorite weeks of the year, not just for the food, the fall colors, or the warmth of family gatherings… but because this week naturally invites reflection. It invites a pause. A breath. A moment to sit with what matters most. And as I sit here today, thinking about the last year… the last decade… truly, the last lifetime  of experiences that have shaped me… I feel one thing rising to the surface more than anything else: Gratitude. Deep,

There are days when life feels easy and open, days when joy moves through the body like a warm breeze, days when clarity lands gently in the heart. And then there are days like yesterday… the kind that remind us just how human we really are. I found myself sitting on my couch, feeling a heaviness I couldn’t quite name at first. It started as a subtle pressure in my chest, a tightness in my throat, and then the thoughts began to swirl. You know the ones, the quiet whispers tha

Over the last year and a half, life handed my husband a journey I wouldn’t wish on anyone. Four major surgeries, each one demanding courage, patience, and a level of resilience that still humbles me. A bicep surgery. A shoulder surgery. And two knee surgeries. One after the other. Every time he healed from one, another challenge waited right behind it. For us, dance has always been more than movement. It has been the heartbeat of our connection, the language beneath our words

Passion  and pleasure , two words that once scared me, now light up my entire life. I wasn’t always this way. For a long time, I believed that passion was something I had to earn  and that pleasure was something to be cautious about. I thought joy came after  the hard work, a reward I could claim once I’d proven myself worthy enough to feel it. But the truth is, we are all born to experience pleasure. It’s our natural state. It’s written in our breath, our movement, our heart

Each year, we get the chance to begin again, to breathe deeper, move with intention, and reconnect with what truly matters. For me, that always begins on the West Coast Swing dance floor. Dance to Uplift  was created from the belief that movement is medicine. When we dance with awareness, when we breathe, connect, and allow joy to move through us, we don’t just learn steps. We awaken something sacred inside us. My classes are about so much more than dancing. They are about co

Discover the beauty of being a beginner again through grounding, breathwork, and movement. Learn how to build strong foundations in life and dance with purpose in Shalay Andrus’ “Connect & Transform” Masterclass Series in Utah County.

Learn how to move from self-conscious to self-confident through grounding, breathwork, and movement. Discover somatic healing practices and West Coast Swing dance techniques that build self-trust and inner peace in Utah County.