“The dancing is pretty fun,” said Jackie in a telephone interview. “We dance around in a gym to different music. Sometimes the music is country, sometimes ‘60s or ‘80s music, or just rock ‘n’ roll. My favorite is country music. I’m country all the way. I like Clay Walker, Tim McGraw, Faith Hill, and Brooks and Dunn.”

Up to 30 people attend each dance at a local community center. A dance club like this would be fairly easy to start anywhere and an excellent way for some people with disabilities to have fun and build relationships in a safe environment. Almost half those kicking up their heels in Mankato have an attendant with them.

“I’ve met lots of friends there,” said 25‑year‑old Jackie, who has someone helping her nightly to make menus and cook, as well as drive her to dances and other leisure recreation. A mobility van takes her to work as a cleaning assistant for a physical therapy practice. As another leisure activity, Jackie has taken community education classes in arts and crafts, cooking, and blanket making.

She lives by herself in order to be more independent of her mother and father, who live in a smaller city 25 miles away. “It’s more fun living by myself because I get to do what I want,” she said.

The founder of this dance club, Sanda Noy, based it on one she had read about in Coon Rapids, Minn.

Her son with a disability, Brad, “bounces off the walls and anything in between, including people” when dancing, she said. But at the club he can dance the way he wants and, like everyone else, brings his own music to play. Brad said he enjoys the easy listening music of Jack Johnson.