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For the Love of the Dance
 Mike
Shay, shown above with dance partner Stacey Lipitz, started the
university’s Ballroom at Maryland club. Shay and his wife Amy (below)
met on the dance floor.
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Editor’s
note: Outlook’s new feature, extracurricular, will take occassional
glimpses into university employees’ lives outside of their day jobs. We
welcome story suggestions; call Monette Austin Bailey at (301) 405-4629
or send them to outlook@accmail.umd.edu
To hear Mike Shay tell it, ballroom dancing is the activity for just-left-of-mainstream, uninhibited men.
“Really, I mean, for a guy to get out there and dance?” he asks rhetorically and with a hearty laugh, “in front of people?”
Shay is one of those brave individuals; for on many weekend nights
this plasma research associate can be found waltzing his six-foot frame
across a dance floor, head held high, feet flying.
“I’ve always loved dancing. I went to all the high school dances.”
As an undergraduate at Grinnell College in Iowa, he regularly took part
in the once-a-semester waltz held by the school. “Everyone gets dressed
up. It was fun.”
It was where he got his first taste of partner dancing. A few
ballroom dancing classes later, and Shay was really hooked. He went
social dancing, as non-competitive ballroom dancing is called, while in
Champaign, Ill. spending time with his parents after graduation. He
even entered a competition.
Shay came to the university as a physics graduate student in 1993. He wanted to dance in his free time.
“I looked at the SGA’s list of clubs; there was nothing. So in my
first year here, I didn’t do a lot. The next year I started a ballroom
club called Ballroom at Maryland, BAM. It’s still very active,” he says.
The club (www.ballroomatmaryland.com)
hosts dances, workshops and competitions open to anyone. They’re on a
mission to combat stereotypes that ballroom dancers are stuffy
exclusivists.
“The people are a lot of fun, really easy going, especially at the
social [dancing] level. People show up to our classes in Tevas and half
of the people show up without a partner.”
Classes are offered by BAM through the Art and Learning Center in
the Stamp Student Union. Shay says 200 to 300 people per semester take
the ballroom courses. Club officers also plan outings to local studios
where attendees are encouraged to dress casually, “but nice.” Advance
dancers look out for the beginners and one-hour lessons are offered
before each BAM-hosted dance.
Shay’s full-time responsibilities for the Institute for Research
in Electronics and Applied Physics leave him less time for his dancing,
something he regrets, especially now that he’s moved into more
competitive waters. He did make time to compete in a United States
Amateur Ballroom Dancers Association contest in Salt Lake City last
month, though. “It was worth going the distance for,” he explains. “I’m
pretty hardcore now.”
His wife, Amy, shares his love of dance, though not at this level.
It is how they met. Shay competes with a his partner, Stacey Liptz,
another former Maryland student.
Joy of movement aside, Shay came to dancing for the social aspects
of the sport. The club scene offers loud music and a limited playlist,
he says. Ballroom dancers can groove to traditional waltzes, the
hustle, swing and even the cha-cha. “That song ‘Lady Marmalade‚’ that’s
out now? It’s the perfect cha-cha,” Shay says.
This from a man who studies math at a level most find dizzying.
“Ballroom dancing does tend to attract a higher percentage of people
who like science than you would think. There’s that correlation between
mathematics and music,” he says. “But it tends to be people who have no
inhibitions, who are willing to have a good time.”
Ballroom at Maryland will host a weekend of activities Nov. 2-4 at the
Reckord Armory. There will be a social dance on Friday, a competition
on Saturday and workshops on Sunday. For more information, go to www.ballroomatmaryland.com.
A portion of the proceeds from the event will go to the September 11th
Memorial Scholarship Fund, which provides academic assistance to
students who lost a parent or guardian in that day’s attacks.
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