Spotlight on Brian W

My journey to Pulse dates around 13 years ago when Jennifer was just opening PulsePDX. I had heard of her but never met her until I took a class at 24-Hour Fitness in the Pearl one day. My favorite teacher was a young man named Julio, whom I think everyone at that time followed him wherever he was teaching a class, myself included. Jennifer was subbing for him one day, and we were in the middle of the class when the fire alarm went off. We had to leave the building and all our belongings there. The class spent a while in the parking lot waiting for the all clear from the fire Dept so that we could get our belongings inside. I struck up a conversation with Jennifer as we hung out, and we seemed to hit it off. She told me about her new venture, PulsePDX, and gave me a 5-class pass to try it out.

I was, and still am, a member of 24-Hour Fitness; this is where I was taking step classes, which I was just as crazy about as I am about Zumba. Zumba class was just before my step class, so I used to peek my head around the corner and watch from the door. It looked fun, but I thought I could never remember that many routines. The music was pretty good, and the dance moves seemed fun, so I gave it a chance. I started out in the back of the class, but as usual, I ended up on the front line quickly. I was in Love! I was dancing there 3-4 times a week along with 2 days of step aerobics as well.

The teachers were good, not Pulse quality, but fun. My main teacher wasn’t good at changing up her routines, and I was getting bored, so after a year of doing almost the same routine, I decided to take a break. I heard that Julio was part of Pulse and I wanted to see the place. I used up my 5 class passes quickly and joined with a 2 class/week membership. Well, you can imagine how fast that went. Fast forward 13 years and needing to upgrade to unlimited class membership, and I have accumulated, as of this writing, 3300 classes.

Since my retirement in 2017, I have had the good fortune of having lots of available time and good health to dance to my heart’s content. I never get tired of dancing at Pulse, each time I come there to dance, I get just as excited as if it were the first time. It will be interesting to see my class count if and when I decide to hang up the dancing shoes (sneakers).

I started coming to Pulse PDX shortly after Jennifer opened the doors. It took me a while to wean myself from 24-hour fitness, but I can say without hesitation that it was one of the best decisions I’ve made.

What are some of your favorite things about PulsePDX?

There are so many favorite things I like about Pulse. The first and foremost thing I like is my friendship with Jennifer. I watched her start the business and build it to what it is today, a place that brings many people, myself included, immense amounts of joy and happiness. I had my 60th BD party there with 100 people from all walks of my life. Even my cardiac surgeon came; without him, I wouldn’t be writing this now and would never have gotten to know so many wonderful, kind people I have met over the years coming to Pulse.

I spent 10 years in fear of the monster under the stage and couldn’t get myself up there to dance, even though I wanted to. I was paralyzed with fear for no good reason until Jennifer asked me, as a BD present to her on her 10-year anniversary, if I would come up and dance with her. We all know how persuasive she can be (for all of us who have had the finger pointed at us during class). I couldn’t turn her down, so I made the commitment to her that I would and asked her if we could work on a song together so I wouldn’t make a complete fool out of myself. She even sent me a video of her dancing to the song we chose, and it was shot from the perspective of looking out from the stage.

It was a big help, but not for the gripping fear I was having as the night approached. The place was a sellout; even where the art gallery is located, it was full of those who couldn’t get in. No one knew I was going to dance and it was the second to last song of the night. As I heard the song start, my heart started pumping, and I headed toward the stairs, which felt like I was in a kinda slow motion run. I didn’t hear anybody say anything at first, which I thought was odd, but it seemed like the place erupted when I got on stage. We started dancing to Toxic- by Britney Spears, and it was one of the most frightful and joyous nights of my life. I beat the monster! and to boot I made $2.00. A Magic Mike Moment!

Another favorite mine is Rock The Mansion around Halloween..if you haven’t been..GO! It’s great people you already know having lots of fun dancing in costume for hours straight. Pride Week is another favorite time to support a great community of friends. I think in general my most favorite thing about coming to Pulse is that I get to come and spend an hour or two almost every day dancing and smiling with all of YOU! Thank You for that honor.

There aren’t too many days when I’m not dancing with all of you, but when I’m not there, I have the privilege of creating a life of my own making. I get to spend a lot of time with my partner and our three dogs, a female Bichon named Mia. A Maltese/Poodle mix rescue from California named Bodhi, and another rescue from Thailand named Yeegin (AKA Iggy Pop). Lots of walking and sloppy kisses keeps me happy and healthy!

I have a small teardrop trailer that I take out a lot during the summer, it’s more like Glamping than camping, but hey, I’m old, and I like my creature comforts. Music festivals that allow you to camp on-site have my summer calendar looking pretty full. I like to attend live music (house concerts) where people open their homes to singer/songwriters and provide a night’s entertainment for $25. I love golfing, biking, hiking, and skiing. You get the idea, if it’s fun, I’m not afraid to try it at least once; that’s why my storage unit looks like a mini REI.

I want to thank Jennifer for allowing me to share a little bit about my life with all of you. Let’s Dance!