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It happens all the time when I meet new people.  They find out that we are ballroom dancers, and they say something like this: “I would love to dance, but I’ve got two left feet!”  A popular variation is “My wife wants us to learn to dance, but I’ve got two left feet!”

These people seem to think that the ability to dance comes from innate talent rather than from instruction, practice, and experience.  Yes, at a more advanced level, or in competitive dancing, talent is a factor.  But no one, no matter how talented, walks onto the floor for the first time and walks off the floor a world 10-dance champion.  Everyone had to take that first lesson, go to that first social dance, make those embarrassing mistakes.

Brand-new ballroom dancers do have to get over an initial “hump.”   To have fun at a ballroom dance one probably needs to know basic steps in at least 3 dances.  I think the learning curve is more significant for men, who have to lead and therefore must think one step ahead.  Getting familiar with music is necessary too.  Daniel used to turn up the car radio and ask, “What can we dance to this?”  Soon I could quickly identify the right dance for any song he played.  Songs at social dances are often short; if you have to ponder too long, you’ll miss the dance entirely. So it’s true that getting started is the hardest part, because there is a lot to learn.

And yet I don’t want to suggest that learning to dance is hard.  It’s challenging, but in a fun way.  My point is that you do have to learn to dance–and everyone can.  Natural talent helps with, but doesn’t replace, that process.  Even the best dancers still make crazy mistakes.  The fact that Daniel and I have won a few blue ribbons doesn’t make us immune to stepping on each other, losing the count, giving bad leads, failing to follow, doing foxtrot steps to tango music, or crashing into other couples (and some of those things happened on the comp. floor!).

Our friend & instructor Paula East says that “all you need are two left feet and a good attitude.”  That good attitude is the real determining factor–if you have that, the feet will eventually take care of themselves.

Saturday, November 7 was the second annual Stars over Macon Ball.  This event is co-sponsored by the Medcen Foundation and USA Dance Greater Macon Chapter #6059 and it benefits Hospice of Central Georgia.  For the second year in a row we had a great turnout, fantastic music by the Celebration Band, beautiful décor (put together by volunteers including yours truly!), and some amazing dance exhibitions.  The unstoppable Eddie Ares brought two couples to Macon to show us how it’s done: Joe Locurto and his amateur partner Lynne Riddle; and a young professional couple, Jeremy Norris and Emily Loyless.  Eddie also agreed–swayed by raucous audience participation–to return to Macon and give us a workshop in 2010.  Exciting!

As fantastic as the whole event was, for me the highlight was seeing Fran Kirsh recognized for her hard work on Stars over Macon and her dedication to ballroom dancing.  Since her back surgery in August she has not made it onto the dancefloor, but she was at the ball in a well-deserved blaze of glory.  Her hard work in 2008 made the first Stars over Macon possible.  Now it is on its way to being a gorgeous tradition, and the Hospice House is on its way to completion.

How about some pictures?

We hope to see you all tomorrow afternoon at the Howard Community Club where Jim Riley will be teaching a workshop on the Waltz.  Here are the details:

You will learn

• footwork and styling,
• leading and following,
• timing and rhythm, and
• a choreographed routine to use for practice and social dancing.

This workshop will help you add elegance, grace, and movement to your waltz.

The workshop will take place from 4:30 to 6:00 p.m., then our dance will start at 6:30 p.m. as usual.  Cost is $20, which includes admission to the dance along with the workshop.

If you have any questions please call or email Daniel or me.  See you tomorrow!

In October we are competing on two consecutive weekends.  Can you believe it?  One of my New Year’s resolutions for 2009 was to do 3 dance competitions; by the end of next month we’ll have done 4.  Woohoo!  Here’s where we’re going:

On October 18 we’ll be dancing at the SouthEastern Amateur Challenge that is part of the Hotlanta Dance Challenge in Atlanta.  Our own Eddie Ares is the brains behind Hotlanta and it is, as they say, a Really Big Shew.  The Southeast Regional Championship is no longer held in Atlanta (as it used to be every year), so hopefully this event will become a draw for amateur couples as well as pro-am competitors.  I’ve not yet been to Hotlanta even as a spectator–as much as I am looking forward to dancing, I’m looking forward to watching even more!

The weekend of October 23-25 we’ll be in High Point, North Carolina at the High Point Classic Dancesport Championships.  This competition is organized by Wayne Crowder, the same gentleman who runs the Triangle Open where we had so much fun back in February.  So we expect to enjoy this one a lot.  We may also have some long-lost friends coming to watch us dance.  Hooray!

That will probably be the end of our competitive trajectory for 2009, which means it’s time to sit down and figure out where we want to go in 2010…Montréal, perhaps?

Granted, we Southern types have already been in school for weeks, but Labor Day weekend is the traditional end of summer.  Time to pack away the bathing suits and lawn chairs and get out the pencils and notebooks–or in our case, the pencils, notebooks, and dancing shoes!  Paula East has been working hard on her new schedule of classes and also on helping us promote our workshop at the end of this month.  If you are interested in attending the workshop and haven’t already talked to Daniel, Paula, or me, please call or email one of us soon.  It is filling up really fast!

Paula is also offering a full slate of classes this fall.  You can visit her Web site for the schedule and registration information; here’s a rundown of the classes she’s offering:

• Fridays beginning September 4 at the Macon Health Club: Social Ballroom with Dianne Kent, 6:30-7:30 p.m. ($40.00 per person, 4 week session)
• Thursdays beginning September 17 at the Macon Health Club: Advanced Ballroom (Bronze level & up), 7:15-8:45 p.m. ($60.00 per person, 4 week session)
• Sundays beginning September 20 at the Wellness Center:
  • Beginning Ballroom/Refresher, 1:15-2:15 p.m. ($40.00 per person, 4 week session)
  • Semi-Advanced, 2:30-3:30 p.m. ($40.00 per person, 4 week session)
  • Advanced Latin Dance, 3:45-5:15 p.m. ($45.00 per person for 3 classes: Sept. 20, Oct. 4, Oct. 11)
• September 21 at the Wellness Center: complimentary lesson for a new class, “No Partner-No Problem.”   Sign up that night for the class, which will begin October 12.
• Mondays beginning October 12 at the Wellness Center: No Partner-No Problem, 7:15-8:45 p.m.
  • 1st half of class: Line Dancing ($35.00 per person, 4 week session)
  • 2nd half of class: Ballroom, ($35.00 per person, 4 week session)

It’s time to hit the dancefloor!

Yesterday was Memorial Day, which means it’s (un)officially summer in the USA. Looks like great weather for hot Latin dancing! We especially want to thank everyone who decided to skip the beach last weekend and attend our dance instead. We had a great, enthusiastic crowd!

Sunday night, Dolan brought some flyers with the Web address for Frank Hill’s CarePages site.  Frank has now started chemotherapy and he’s hanging in there with lots of support from family and friends, including fellow dancers.  Frank’s experience really demonstrates one of the benefits of ballroom dancing: it provides dancers with a kind of “second family.”  You always have something interesting to do (dance), something to talk about (dancing), and someone to lend support when you need it (other dancers).

If you are not yet part of the dancing family, now is a great time to get started.  Paula is starting a new set of classes at the Macon Health Club and at the Wellness Center this week.  Beginner classes are Sundays at the Wellness Center; intermediate classes are Tuesday at the Macon Health Club; and advanced (bronze & above) classes are Thursday at the Macon Health Club.  See Paula’s Web site for more details on registration and pricing.  We are very excited for the Thursday class since Paula has said we’ll be working on the tango–our favorite!

More news coming soon about our upcoming competitions and a new sponsor.  Meanwhile, please check the Local Dance Opportunities page to see where the action is in the month of June.