Cover of The Dance of Resilience book

The Dance of Resilience

Transforming Lives and Staying Vibrant Through Partner Dance

Coming soon: January 13, 2026!

Published by She Writes Press

Distributed by Simon & Schuster

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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.

  • “Dance is for everyone. The beauty of it is simple: If it makes you feel good, you’re doing it right. Are you thinking about dancing? This book will help you stop thinking and start moving!”

    —Alan Bersten, Dancing with the Stars professional

  • “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 one’s self 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

  • “Dance isn’t just movement—it’s medicine. The Dance of Resilience powerfully reveals how dance boosts brain health and well-being.  It’s a must-read for anyone passionate about wellness, aging, and community healing.”

    —Wayne Eng and Maria Hansen, Dance Vision Foundation

  • “As a physician and musician, I’ve seen how music and movement can improve brain health and physical well-being. This book is an overdue call to action for policymakers and health leaders to bring prescriptions for dance and other arts into our insured and public health systems to help reduce costs and improve health.”

    —DR. ALAN SIEGEL, cofounder of Social Prescribing USA

  • “As a veteran still serving in reserves, partner dance became a way for me to channel the psychological burden of combat into something meaningful. I learned to reshape traumatic experiences into empowering performances and resilience.  Everyone’s story is different. The deeply personal and varied accounts in this book of discovering unexpected and hidden resilience through dance will move anyone.”  

    —Lt. Colonel Jennifer Larsen, US Air Force 

Ember Reichgott Junge ballroom dancing

About Ember

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 miniature schnauzer Maya.

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