Auburn Parks and Recreation is encouraging the community to get out and dance.
The Jan Dempsey Community Arts Center in Auburn hosts a variety of dance classes available to people of all ages and skill levels.
Classes range from square dancing, salsa, belly dancing, tango and ballroom dancing.
"We have been offering these classes for 12 years," said Sarah Hand Custer, cultural arts director for Auburn Parks and Recreation at the JDCAC. "We also have visual arts classes, theatre classes and even music classes."
A beginner's dance class meets Monday through Friday from 8-10 a.m. at the JDCAC. Participants of all skill levels are welcome at no charge.
Instructor Wartan Jemian has been teaching the class for 13 years, but his attendance has dwindled to only one student, Linda Weidenbach.
"It is a two hour session," Jemian said. "Generally we start off with some line dance. And then sometimes we do some ballroom afterward."
The pair has worked to master the cha-cha, foxtrot, West Coast swing, American tango and many others.
"We dance mostly for fun," Jemian said. "We both want to learn, and so we are working on it together."
Weidenbach attends the class each morning.
"I have been coming for about two and a half years," Weidenbach said. "It keeps me from just sitting on the couch watching the 'Today' show. And I have always wanted to dance, and my husband is not a dancer, so I had to go find one."
Jemian said they dance to CDs of 20 songs during the two-hour class, which provides plenty of exercise.
"If you put the CD on and dance all the way through ... you get an hour of really aerobic exercise," Jemian said.
Jemian said he started dancing 13 years ago after he and his wife attended his son's wedding and did not know the dances at the reception.
"We could do some waltz steps, and we could do some slow steps, but that was it" Jemian said. "Everybody else was having a great time with swing dance, and we were out of it. And that was very sad."
Jemian decided to learn to dance, but ran into a problem when he and his wife did not have enough room in their house to move.
"We started learning dancing and then we started to practice, and we couldn't move the furniture around too easily at home," Jemian said. "So I arranged to have (JDCAC) available at 8 o'clock in the morning; no one else wanted that time."
While Jemian and Weidenbach enjoy dancing each morning, they are hopeful more people will join them each week.
"Last summer we had a number of people who joined," Jemian said. "Anybody can walk in and join. There is no charge."
Jemian said he is ready for his class size to grow so others can learn.
"I think it will change, and I am ready for them when they come," Jemian said. "I never get tired of showing the steps."
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