Name: Denny Lennon
Position: Owner/instructor
Location: Chattanooga Dancesport
First job: Working at a pizza shop in a historic building in Colorado Springs, Colo.
Best part of the job: "The creative outlet. When you dance, your body is another instrument with the music. I'm really keyed into the music. I love the choreography that we get to do with our students and the competitions. Seeing students who come in to pursue dance as a hobby engaging in the creative outlet that we offer is really, really cool to see, because you see them blossom in all different ways. Some get really dramatic, some like doing comedy, and the social outlet is fun as well. A lot of the stuff I personally enjoy are the performances and competitions.
Worst part of the job: The hours. You can work pretty much every day of the week if you let yourself, from 10 or 12 in the morning to 10 or 11 at night. I don't do that so much anymore, but back when I was a little bit younger, I would be there almost every day of the week. That's hard when you're trying to raise a family. My focus has shifted a little.
A challenge he's faced: The biggest challenge is probably getting other teachers involved with the studio. We don't really have the time to train brand-new people, so that's a problem.
What he's learned: Socialization. I'm intrinsically more on the shy side, but being in this business, you can't afford to be. You're right in front of people's faces, dancing with them at every odd hour of the day. So it's taught me to be a little more forthcoming.
What he never expected to learn: It's taught me a ton about women's things. I never thought I'd have to know about women's hair and women's makeup and women's clothing and women's underclothing. There are certain things that they can and can't wear when they're wearing some of those ball gowns.