Meet Jess, NBLD Cofounder + Lead Instructor
She’s from the Chicago suburbs but she’s called Nashville home for the past 17 years.
She and her good friend, Jimmy, created New Boots in 2016 when they realized people were looking for an affordable opportunity to Line Dance in private parties with their friends and families. They’ve since grown the business to include multiple types of lessons that host small gatherings to large corporate events.
What brought you to Nashville? As a teen I really got into Country music. I was listening to’90s and ‘00s hits but taught myself the history of the genre as well. When it was time to choose a college I decided to pick a school where I could put my interest to use and chose Belmont University and its Music Business program. The city was so exciting with its constant growth, charming neighborhoods, and good food and, of course, the music scene - I knew it was where I needed to be.
Have you always Line Danced? I grew up learning all types of dance from ballet, jazz, and hip hop to modern, but I hadn’t done much Line Dancing. When I moved to Nashville I was looking for opportunities to dance and decided to create an opportunity for myself. I’ve had a blast discovering the fancy footwork and graceful steps that Line Dancing offers.
What are your favorite line dances? The classics are super fun - Boot Scootin’ Boogie, Footloose, Copperhead Road and all that, but I really enjoy making up custom dances as well. It’s exciting to adjust the dances based on the group we’re teaching. I also really love to listen to country music radio and pick out songs I think would be fun to dance to.
What brings you the most joy in teaching at New Boots? I’m so happy to be dancing again but I also love chatting with the groups about where they’re from and the fun things they’ve been doing while in town. We trade bar/restaurant recommendations and ideas about the best songs to Line Dance too. Each group brings a different style and energy to the lesson and it makes every class so interesting.
What surprised you about running a business? It can be hard to turn off “work mode” because you always want to be growing and improving your business. Whether it’s making operations run smoothly, or coming up with new ideas for the future, there’s never not a good time to be taking action. Then there’s so much joy, from receiving a booking confirmation to hearing a group say our lesson was the most fun thing they did in Nashville, and that makes it really worth it.
What are you most proud of with New Boots? So many things! We’ve been doing private lessons longer than any other line dancing business. We’ve taught lessons to thousands of customers. We have an amazing staff of Instructors who genuinely care about our lessons. And we managed to make it through the pandemic and came back bigger and better than ever. I can’t wait to see what we do next!
