Why learning ballroom dance is the ultimate midlife power move

If you had told me 10 years ago I’d be slipping on a pair of rhinestone-studded heels to learn the cha-cha — rather than curling up in slippers with a cup of tea and a novel—I would’ve laughed. (And if you added that I would be reporting for dance competition hair and makeup appointments at 5AM, I would really have called you crazy.) But here I am, well into midlife if not beyond, waltzing (sometimes literally) into a new chapter of life. And honestly? I feel more alive than I did at 35.

Ballroom dancing isn’t just a hobby. It’s a transformation.

In my debut novel, The Steps Between Us, my heroine Ava walks into a ballroom studio looking for a little sparkle to break up the monotony of her days. She’s a new empty-nester, restlessly married, and afraid of the creeping invisibility that seemed to descend on her mother at the same age. She thinks she’s signing up for some social dancing and maybe a touch of glamour. What she gets instead is a full-on jolt to the heart—and a mystery that could kill her.

And while Ava’s story takes some turns that (thankfully) mine hasn’t, we have this in common: We both found something unexpected in the mirrored walls of a ballroom studio. Something life-changing.

Ballroom dancing offers something rare for women in midlife: structure and sparkle. There’s discipline—learning how to hold your frame, how to gain control of your body, how to let yourself be led without giving up who you are. But there’s also joy. Music. Flirtation. Rhinestones. There’s the simple thrill of doing something new that is unapologetically feminine and unashamedly fun.

It’s not about becoming a “great dancer.” (Spoiler: Ava never quite gets there, not in this book, anyway, and I still have plenty of challenges.) It’s about becoming more you than you’ve felt in years.

It’s about feeling beautiful again—not because someone tells you so, but because you know you are when you catch a glimpse of yourself in the mirror, standing taller, moving freely, smiling like a woman who remembers what she’s made of.

Midlife can feel like a narrowing of options. But ballroom? Ballroom cracks things wide open. It gives you permission to take up space. To feel seen. To flirt. To fail and laugh about it. To feel desire. To reinvent yourself—not by escaping who you were, but by dancing your way closer to who you’ve always been.

And the very best thing about ballroom? The community that comes with it. Ava and I have made so many close friends here. That’s my good friend Irina on the left in the picture with me.

So, if you’ve ever thought, “Isn’t it too late to try something new?”—take it from Ava. Take it from me. This stage of life? It’s not an ending. It’s a spotlight. Step into it.

Ready to waltz into your next chapter? Grab The Steps Between Us on Amazon—available in ebook, paperback, and hardcover – audiobook soon to come!