Follow Me
Story & Photos by Lisa Anderson
Feeling the Rhythm
Of a Dance-Filled Life
“When the marimba rhythms start to play, dance with me, make me sway,” Michael Bublé sings. It’s a song that gets me moving and dancing in a poorly-timed shoulder sway, as I wash the dishes. I clumsily glide across the kitchen floor, imagining I’m gracefully following my dance partner across a beautiful ballroom, sparkling in lights and sequins.
For AVP of Branch Delivery Experience (Insight Credit Union) and podcaster Angela Boone, dancing has long been a part of her life, and she is far better at it than I could possibly be. “I started dancing when I was in middle school—you know, your typical jazz, ballet, and tap. I’ve always loved to dance,” Angela emphatically states.
She danced her way through high school, and while in college, she joined the Caribbean Student Association, a community dance program. “When I went to college, I went for business, and it’s very analytical, for the most part.”
A part of her loves creating lists and checking off the boxes, but Angela is drawn to dance, because it doesn’t involve analytical thinking. “I get to be free. I get to create. I get to have fun, and with ballroom, as a lady, you’re not a leader. So, all you have to do is follow. That’s it. That’s all you have to do, and that’s the beautiful part about it.”
Moving without Movement
Although Angela spent most of her youth in Ocala and considers it her hometown, she had no plans to return to the area, once she moved to attend Florida State University. Through a series of events, she and her husband bought a home in Ocala in 2013.
The transition back to her hometown wasn’t an easy one, and Angela didn’t even have dance to help get her through it.
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Published November 1, 2021
Story & Photos by Lisa Anderson
Reconnecting
The Conclusion of Angela's Story
Angela Boone has loved dancing for her entire life. She began dancing in middle school with typical classes, such as jazz, ballet, and tap, and found her way to ballroom dancing in her adulthood. When she moved back to the Ocala area, after living in northern Florida for several years, dance was no longer at the center of her life. So, in 2020, during the pandemic, Angela decided to start a podcast for two reasons: “One, to rekindle my relationship with dance that didn’t require me to be dancing. Two, I love podcasts. I’m always listening to a podcast, an audiobook, or something of that nature,” she explains.
“The thought behind it was to hear everyone’s story and relate it to dance. Then, talk about things that you wouldn’t necessarily think about that happens in dance. For example, things that happen after you’ve given birth and your body changes, things that happen if you’re self-conscience about the way you look, or maybe you were older and started dancing. You just don’t realize how that can effect someone’s outlook.”
Angela even confesses the color of a person’s skin can also change the way people may interact with a person on the dance floor, and these types of things played a large role in her decision to create the podcast. She wanted to get the stories out there to open people’s eyes. “It’s not just about the movement. There’s a person there. There’s a connection there. There’s more than just choreography or doing the moves right. It’s how you treat people on the dance floor.”
