Competitive dancing isn’t reserved for youth, as Linda Kaser is proud to show. The 59-year-old scooped up an abundance of awards at recent competitions in New Orleans and Portland, Ore.

“It was a lot of fun,” Kaser said, still caught up in the excitement of the competitions.

At the Southern States Dancesport Championships in New Orleans, Kaser snatched up four first place and eight second place awards from her 21 dances, and at the Columbia Star Ball in Portland, she earned a whopping 15 first places and six second places, making it her best competition yet.

“Yea, it’s a competition but that’s not why I do it,” Kaser said. “I’m out there just to improve myself and achieve my very best.”

Kaser is an analyst at the hospital at Whidbey Island Naval Air Station. She takes dance lessons from Nathan Simler at his dance school in Bellingham. Simler teaches ballroom and Latin dancing. Kaser dances in the American category which includes the categories of rhythm, with dances like the mambo, and smooth, with dances like the waltz and foxtrot.

Competitions are divided into age and skill level categories. In the past, Kaser competed in the bronze skill level category but in New Orleans, her only goal was to take a step up to compete in silver, where she ended up earning first place.

“That was the best moment ever,” Kaser said.

When dancing at competitions, the judges look at the dancer as a whole package. It isn’t just getting the steps right, it’s about smiling; the judges want to see that the dancers enjoy what they’re doing, and Kaser has no problem there.

“It just energizes me. I’m a happier person doing it,” Kaser said of dancing, adding that the more dancers on the floor, the more she feeds off their energy.

Kaser and her husband started taking group dance classes five years ago from Dan Branscum of Dan’s Classic Ballroom in Oak Harbor. They thought six weeks would be plenty of time to learn a few dances for their son’s wedding — how naive they were, Kaser said.

But Kaser stuck with dance and decided to compete as a way to keep her memory fresh after investing so much time learning the dances in the first place.

“There’s a goal on the horizon and I better not forget the steps,” Kaser said of competitions. She dances nine dances at two levels each for competitions, plus some offer scholarship dances, which award money for dance lessons.

Through Branscum, Kaser met Simler, who prefers to have competitive students. Simler took her to watch a competition before she committed to his school. By the end of it, Simler could tell she’d rather be out there competing.

“So he said, ‘Why don’t you start lessons next week?’ And we did,” Kaser said.

The best thing about Simler is that he doesn’t try to make his students into something they’re not, Kaser said.

“If you’re old, if you’re overweight, if you never dance again, he sees where you’re at,” Kaser said, adding that he drives her but doesn’t force her to try moves ballerinas 20 years younger than her spent hours learning.

“She’s a really dedicated dancer. She’s really hard working and cares a lot about what she’s doing,” Simler said.

Kaser grew up watching dancers and dreaming of taking lessons, although it was outside of her family’s budget. So when she dances now, she’s dancing for everyone who dreams of dancing.

“I think about all the people who had the dreams to want to dance but never could due to budget, health,” Kaser said. “So when I get out there, in my mind, I’m dancing for all those people. I’m doing it for them.”

“I would recommend it for anybody looking for a challenge,” Kaser said, adding that dancing relieves daily stress and offers a way for individuals to set goals for themselves.

Kaser said she may not be the youngest or fittest dancer, but she simply loves what she’s doing.

“If I can do it, anybody can,” Kaser said.