Line Dance Connection:	What's your name? Do you have any dance nicknames that you're known by?
Ali James:	My name is Abdula Ali James. In the dance community & in my regular life I go by my middle name. Other aliases: Li, Alazarrr, Alfred, Sauce, Abdula The Butcher… wait, nobody uses that last one…LOL
Line Dance Connection:	Where are you from and what city do you call home?
Ali James:	I am from Indianapolis, IN (Naptown) and it’s still my home.
Line Dance Connection:	What do you do in your professional life? Any hobbies outside of dance?
Ali James:	I have an office job with a university to support my family & dance habit. I’m an Art student, very amateur musician, I used to practice Muay Thai & escrima sticks.
Line Dance Connection:	So what do they call this dance craze in your home town? Line Dancing, Hustling, Sliding, Other?
Ali James:	Urban Line Dancing is used around Indy so people don’t expect the big belt buckles & cowboy boots. (I still wear mine though….LOL).
Line Dance Connection:	Are you affiliated with any group or groups?
Ali James:	My group affiliations are Common Ground (Cg), Mo Ground Park (MGP), DAM, UWD and OCCS.
Line Dance Connection:	How long have you been dancing?
Ali James:	I’ve been dancing my whole life. From Michael Jackson moves as a kid to break dancing like Turbo (from the movie Breakin), I’ve always done something. I can remember doing simple line dances on the dance floor in Memphis when I lived there but I didn’t get any instruction until 2005 back in Indy.
Line Dance Connection:	How did you get involved in dancing?
Ali James:	My sister, Connie, needed help driving to an event in Kentucky. We went to the Louisville Slyde workshop & I met Cg & found out they were from my hometown. Addicted ever since.
Line Dance Connection:	After you attended your very first class, how did you feel?
Ali James:	The whole vibe from my initial experience with line dance culture is that everyone was genuinely happy & kind of carefree doing line dances. I was lucky enough to link up with Cg because they were/we are real welcoming, happy ace people.
Line Dance Connection:	How did you get into choreography?
Ali James:	I consider myself fairly creative & I am an audiophile so I’m constantly inspired by music. We associate a moment with our senses & how we feel while taking in sounds, fragrances & what we see & touch. That good feeling you have with a song, you can relive that when you recreate part of the moment. I get to share the moment I enjoyed with someone through dance recreation… wait, did I go too “art statement” with that? Feels like I did, HA!
Line Dance Connection:	How many dances have you created and what was the very first dance you created?
Ali James:	I think I’ve got about 30 solo or collaborative dances circulating. I’m glad that people are still doing anything I’ve had my hand in because there are so many out there. My first dance was “Sexy Love” done to Ne-Yo’s song with the same name.
Line Dance Connection:	Of all your dances which one would you say is your favorite?
Ali James:	I guess I loved “Voila” the most… Even though there ended up being several different, more popular dances done to “Here I Am” by Rick Ross, I just enjoyed the creative process I went through making it & felt like it was a complete work that flowed with the music.
Line Dance Connection:	In your own words, what makes dancing special?
Ali James:	Dancing is honest. If you are enjoying it for real, there is no question. Some extremely stressful life changes have been bearable because I dance. I put dancing right up there with laughter. If I didn’t have it in my life I wouldn’t be this freak’n happy.
Line Dance Connection:	If you could change one thing about dancing, what would it be?
Ali James:	Dancing is perfectly imperfect the way it is. People will only be who they are so no need to change us to try and change dancing. I think we’re all in a natural progression in this dance community, might as well keep having fun.
Line Dance Connection:	Tell me one thing about yourself that the dance community would find surprising.
Ali James:	I still had hair when I started line dancing & yes, there is a dome underneath the hats… HA!