So you think you can't dance? Well, you're not alone, but your numbers are getting smaller.
Americans have rediscovered the pleasures of gliding around the
floor in the arms of a partner. As a result, interest in ballroom
dancing is greater than it has been at any time since the middle of the
last century, say the dance professionals.
The reasons vary. People are looking for new ways to stay fit, and
ballroom is a good way to meet people. But maybe it's something as
simple as the fact that people are tired of dancing by themselves, as
Thomas Murdock, vice president of marketing for Arthur Murray
International, suggests.
Membership in the United States Amateur Ballroom Dancers
Association has jumped from 10,000 to 25,000 in the last six or seven
years, says its spokesman, Ken Richards. "We're seeing younger people
coming into studios in droves."
The youth movement may be because of the growing recognition of
competitive ballroom dancing as a sport; dance is even being considered
for inclusion in the 2008 Olympic Games in Beijing. Or it may be
because almost every college and university in the country now has a
dance sports club or offers classes, compared to 30 years ago when for
some reason only Brigham Young University did.
Wendy Goldstein, a sophomore at the University of Maryland, College Park,
always wanted to learn to dance, but lessons in her hometown, St.
Louis, were too expensive. When she got to college, she joined the
school's ballroom dance club. In the 10 months since she started, she's
become very serious, practicing five days a week when she's not
studying cell biology and molecular genetics. She and her partner
recently won "best newcomer couple" at a competition in North Carolina.
Goldstein loves ballroom dancing, she says, for several reasons.
"You don't see much chivalry anymore, but ballroom is very chivalrous.
It's addictive, because the people are so much fun and the dancing is
so much fun. You don't have to be good at it to have a good time.
"And you get to dress up," she adds. "That's one of the most appealing things."
Not only are more people dancing, they're watching dancing in
record numbers. This summer's surprise reality hit, Dancing With the
Stars on ABC, drew 15 million viewers and was the top-rated show for
several weeks.
Fox has high expectations for its entry in the category, So You
Think You Can Dance, which has its premiere Wednesday at 8 p.m. .
Contestants for the American Idol-esque title of "best dancer in the
country" will be doing hip-hop, jazz and krumping; but ballroom is also
in the mix.
The indie film Mad Hot Ballroom has become a respectable hit in
limited release this summer. It documents a program that brings trained
dance teachers to New York public school kids. Who knows? Ballroom
could become as hip as hip-hop. On the horizon is New Line's dance
drama Take the Lead, starring Antonio Banderas, which should be out
next year.
Ballroom dancing has become an entertainment phenomenon that feeds
on itself. Earlier films and television shows such as PBS's
Championship Ballroom Dancing got people interested in dance, and
dancing got them interested in watching it. Some think ballroom's
current popularity can be traced back to the early 1990s with the
success of the Australian comedy Strictly Ballroom, unexpectedly a
worldwide sensation.
Others, like John Pattillo, owner of the Towson Dance Studio, saw
an upswing of interest as early as 1977, when John Travolta's Saturday
Night Fever blazed on the scene.
"It sparked a huge influx," Pattillo says. "People came in to
learn the hustle and disco and got interested in other dances. There
hasn't been one huge [dance] blockbuster since Saturday Night Fever,
but many movies have incorporated dancing, like Scent of a Woman."
Each time people see how much fun dancing with a partner can be, dance teachers reap the benefits.
The last film to inspire the craze was 2004's Shall We Dance?, in
which Richard Gere played a middle-aged man whose life is renewed when
he learns ballroom dancing from Jennifer Lopez.
"Richard Gere made it OK to dance again," says Murdock of Arthur
Murray International, the largest of the dance studio companies.
There has always been an ebb and flow in ballroom's popularity,
and things were slow in the late '80s and early '90s. People went to
clubs and shook it to the music, no partner needed. But since the
mid-'90s, Murdock says, there's been a steady increase in general
within the industry. Two years ago, Arthur Murray's business was up 7
percent from the year before. Last year, it was up 12 percent, and this
year, it's already up 28 percent.
"Hollywood brought people back to the dance floor," says Richards, "and back into each others arms."
Movies and TV aside, other factors have fueled the ballroom craze
- some that you wouldn't expect, such as the videotaping of big
weddings. Nowadays, couples take lessons so they won't look like
klutzes in their wedding video, and often the whole wedding party will
come along if a nervous groom wants company. It's a significant part of
most studios' business, and some dance teachers, such as Jennifer
Gooding of the Annapolis Dance Academy, practically make wedding lessons a subspecialty.
"Ten years ago, my clientele was definitely older," she says. "Now
they literally run the gamut. I'm seeing more dating couples come in.
People are starting to see it as a good option [for a date]."
She's even getting teenagers taking dance lessons - even the boys.
"What teenage boy doesn't like girls around him?" she asks. "And what
teenage boy doesn't want to be admired for his dancing?"
Younger people are often drawn in because they want to learn Latin
dances like salsa, which are energetic, fun and particularly popular
right now. Once they learn one dance they often want to learn others.
Jennifer Williams, who is 23, talked her boyfriend, Michael
Witthauer, into coming to class with her at the Towson Dance Studio. He
wanted to take salsa; she persuaded him to join Wedding Survival, the
studio's beginning ballroom class. They are learning to waltz, swing
and foxtrot.
"We'll probably continue classes," she says, "because it's so much fun."
At the other end of the spectrum are the baby boomers. No trend,
of course, goes unaffected by that huge bulge in the population.
"They are maturing," says Richards. "They are taking cruises and going to more social functions."
They need to know how to dance with their partner, and look good doing it.
Boomers are into fitness and have health concerns. They have
discovered that dancing burns calories, gets the heart going and isn't
boring like lifting weights.
Boomers are nostalgic, like much of the rest of America, for
another age - a kinder, gentler one when people danced the waltz and
foxtrot instead of making moves that look like foreplay for sex.
But there are less theoretical and more practical reasons more
people are dancing, the main one being that lessons are available in so
many places. And they are cheaper.
Over the years independent dance studios have sprung up. Lessons
can be had for nothing or next to nothing at Ys and Jewish community
centers. People don't have to commit to expensive packages of dance
lessons; they can find a place close to home where they can take a
swing class or go to Latin night for a free salsa lesson at a nightclub.
Lee Gedansky of Beginning Ballroom finds his students at places like the Towson YMCA, the Maryland Athletic Club and the University of Baltimore.
On Saturday nights he gives lessons at the 13th Floor at the Belvedere.
He believes the time is right for ballroom dancing because of how
Americans live their lives.
"In the last 10 years, there's been a much greater increase in
people who live, eat and breathe their jobs," he says. "That's true of
a lot of my students. Some of them set aside time for themselves by
dancing. It's not only relaxing, it helps facilitate a certain level of
social intimacy you lose with working all the time."
Ways to dance
Some of the most popular dances you can learn:
Foxtrot. This most popular American-style ballroom dance,
introduced in 1913 or 1914 by vaudeville actor Harry Fox, incorporates
a combination of slow and quick steps.
Waltz. A dance in three-quarters time, done primarily in a
closed position, with a strong accent on the first beat. It was popular
in Vienna in the early 19th century, and spread quickly.
Swing: A group of related street dances that evolved from the Lindy hop. A partner dance, it has a leader and follower.
Tango. A dance of Argentine origin in two-fourths time, marked by gliding steps and stylized head movements.
Salsa. A Latin nightclub dance. Mambo danced on the 1 beat instead of the 2.
Merengue. Originally from the Dominican Republic, has a brisk
rhythm. A different feeling from the more flowing Cuban and Puerto
Rican dances.
Cha-cha. A Latin American dance derived from the rumba and mambo in four-four time.
Rumba: Introduced in the United States about 1933. Slow to medium tempo, with flirtatious interplay between partners.
Where to dance
These studios are mentioned in the story, but the phone book has many more. Check with community groups and clubs also.
