When Lindi Holt first walked into the Arthur Murray dance studio in Avon, she intended to learn the waltz and thought she’d master it in just a few lessons. Fast-forward three and-a-half years, and Lindi is still dancing. She takes five private lessons per week, fits in group lessons when she can and even participates in showcases around the state. Lindi dreams of competing (it’s expensive), and her ultimate goal is to perform the Viennese waltz in Austria one day!
What spurred Lindi into the dance studio? And why did she want to learn the waltz? The answer to the second question stems from her Speedway High School days when she was an exchange student in Vienna. The answer to the first question is more personal. After her firefighter/paramedic husband, Jeff, died unexpectedly in the line of duty, Lindi needed a change. She left their shared employer and started a bucket list to keep her moving.
Lindi Holt dances the Argentine Tango with her instructor, Jamis, at a recent showcase.
“After my husband died, I tried to keep working for the city of Lawrence, but I just couldn’t. Memories would come flooding in, and it was too hard to be there without him,” said Lindi. “That’s when I landed the best job around, serving as a community paramedic for Hendricks Regional Health. I get to meet so many neat people who have such a profound impact on me. But without Jeff, I also knew I couldn’t only go to work and come home. That’s when I started my bucket list.”
Lindi was scared when she initially walked into the studio. She had zero experience dancing and didn’t consider herself coordinated. Two people greeted her: the studio owner, Jack, and her primary instructor, Jamis. Both made her feel at home. They equated dancing with everyday movement and were incredibly encouraging. Lindi kept signing up for additional lessons, learning new techniques and meeting people until she felt she had a new family and a new lease on life.
“Music heals,” said Lindi. “I firmly believe that, and so if anyone out there wants to try dancing, I’d be glad to introduce you. It’s an excellent avenue for physical and mental self-care, one of the most important things we can do for ourselves because life is short. You have to eat the cake, grab the brass ring, make the connections and above all else, keep going.”
Dancing isn’t the only thing fueling Lindi forward. She manages a 10-acre farm in northern Hendricks County, where she’s lived for 16 years as a city-turned-country girl, and spends as much time as she can with her two daughters and three “absolutely wonderful” grandchildren. Lindi also credits her strength to a “whole village” of people she “loves to pieces.”
