The Dance of Resilience - by Ember Reichgott Junge (Paperback)

Book Synopsis

In the same vein of Wendy Suzuki's Healthy Brain, Happy Life and Peter Attia's Outlive, this inspiring narrative weaves together personal narratives, interviews, and cutting-edge science to explore the power of partner dance in transforming lives.

Energetic living. Mental sharpness. Social interaction. Emotional well-being. Scientifically proven benefits for people living with depression, dementia, and Parkinson's disease. The Dance of Resilience reveals how these are just some of the many ways partner dance transforms lives.

Through extraordinary stories of ordinary people across the human spectrum--woven with her own candid experiences--award-winning author and legislator Ember Reichgott Junge shows how partner dance sparks self-discovery, fosters a healthier lifestyle, and offers a powerful antidote to today's growing "epidemic of loneliness."

But Reichgott Junge goes even further, building a compelling case that dance should be recognized as an essential part of our insured and public health care systems. What if your doctor could prescribe twelve dance sessions--covered by insurance--to help ease anxiety or enhance cognitive function?

Step into The Dance of Resilience--and discover your hidden resilience as you enter an unexpected life of purpose and heartwarming possibility.

Review Quotes

"Rarely is a book both timely and timeless. This vibrant book turns our notions of dance upside down. It shows us that the secret to purposeful aging isn't to focus on oneself but to partner with others. Every generation needs a clarifying call to dance. This is that book that can change your life and might even save it."--Richard Leider, author of The Power of Purpose, Repacking Your Bags, and Who Do You Want to Be When You Grow Old?

About the Author

Ember Reichgott Junge, former Minnesota state senator, journalist, and nonprofit executive, is an attorney and broadcast political analyst. She is an alumna of the international cast of Up with People and a late-blooming ballroom dancer. Her first book, Zero Chance of Passage, won the 2013 Grand Prize for Writer's Digest Self-Published Book Awards and was cited as an expert resource in a 2025 US Supreme Court case. Ember is a graduate of St. Olaf College, Duke University Law School, and University of St. Thomas (MBA). She and her husband Michael Junge commute between their Hutchinson and Minneapolis, Minnesota, homes with their schnauzer Maya.