MCKINNEY, Texas -- A dance instructor’s insistence on teaching the cha cha has landed him in the Collin County Jail after a Texas judge found him in contempt of court.

37-year-old Eric Rush is serving a 30-day sentence that began last week after violating a court order prohibiting him from teaching dance lessons within 25 miles of a studio from which he said he was fired. Rush’s former bosses at the Plano dance studio say the instructor violated his noncompete employment agreement.

Rusk acknowledged in a jailhouse interview with The Dallas Morning News that he advertised his services and provided forbidden dance lessons to students in the area. But in his defense, Rush said, he couldn’t help himself.

Rush told the newspaper—quote—“I love to dance. It’s my soul.”

An attorney for the dance studio says Rush has repeatedly violated his noncompete agreement by teaching lessons and advertising his services on the Internet. Attorney Anne Terwilliger says the studio owners were forced to pursue the case in court because of Rush’s “continued violations, his refusal to comply with the terms of the agreement he had entered into and the court’s orders.”