Secret Lives: Dancing Through Life
Ask OhioHealth Van Wert Hospital president, Paula Stabler, about running a hospital and she’ll have all the answers ready. Ask her about jazz hands and hip hop beats, and you might be surprised at just how much she knows.
More than 30 years ago, Stabler was looking for a way to stay active and have fun. That’s when she discovered an adult class at Kim Hohman’s DanceWorks in Van Wert and decided to give it a try. That decision sparked a hobby that would span decades.
She joined adult hip hop and jazz classes, learning choreography, rehearsing with her peers and even competing.
“I just enjoy moving,” Stabler said. “I love music, and I’ve always been into music and dance. Even when my boys were younger, we would just listen to music and dance around the house.”
Dance quickly became a family affair. Her oldest son started at the same studio when he was just three years old. Stabler kept dancing alongside him, and together they built memories on and off stage. By the time he graduated high school, they had both earned trophies for participating in 15 years of classes.
Stabler’s love of dance even shaped major family milestones. At her wedding, she and her husband surprised guests with a flash mob that transitioned from a slow ballad to a hip hop routine. Their wedding party joined in, and the celebration ended with a dance-off between the men and women.
“It was so much fun,” Stabler said laughing. “No one saw it coming. We just went for it and had the best time.”
The tradition carried into the next generation at her son’s wedding, this time surprising the guests with a mother-son routine. The choreography was created by fellow Van Wert Hospital associate, Administrative Nurse Manager, Chelsey Young, who also happens to be an instructor at Kim Hohman’s.
“We practiced weekly for about four weeks before the wedding,” Stabler said. “We again started out with a slow song and then busted into a hip hop choreographed routine. It was a lot of fun.”
Dance is still part of Stabler’s life, even if she doesn’t perform every week. Her nine-year-old granddaughter now dances at the studio where both Stabler and her son spent countless hours. Her son has become a devoted “prop dad,” helping backstage at competitions and recitals, and he even joins the other fathers for the studio’s annual dads dance.
“It’s come full circle,” Stabler said. “It’s been such a big part of all of our lives. Now it’s my granddaughter’s turn.”
This year marks Kim Hohman’s DanceWorks’ 30th anniversary, and Stabler is tempted to lace up her dancing shoes once again, “If they bring back an alumni dance, I might just go for it one more time.”
That pull is really about what dance has always given her.
“It helps relieve stress. It gets your body moving, it makes you laugh and it brings you together with other people. We’d make ourselves laugh all the time. It’s just the greatest time.”
Secret Lives is an ongoing series that shares the unusual past careers and unique hobbies of OhioHealth associates, physicians and volunteers.
