Ballroom: Bringing people to their feet

By: Amy Saramago
Posted In: Entertainment

The Viennese Waltz, Tango, Cha Cha Cha, Paso Doble, Jive, Foxtrot, Rumba, Samba, and the Quickstep. When you normally think of those dances you don’t think of them as hip or the kinds of dances young people would be interested in. You usually picture American youth in the dance clubs grinding and shaking their booty or hip hop dancing. While imagining ballroom dancing you immediately have an old time movie still from a Ginger Rodgers and Fred Astaire movie. But it seems that even the youth in this nation have been captured by the allure, the class, the beauty, and the newfound fun of ballroom dancing. Thankfully for the youth some of the dances still include booty shaking.

Dance crazes usually center around a type of outrageous dance (accompanying a song) that is passé almost as soon as it starts, hence the Macarena, the ketchup dance, or most recently the solider boy dance (also known as the “Superman”). Who would ever think ballroom dancing would be the new dance craze hitting not only the United States? The craze may have stemmed from the new interest in this dance form in TV shows like Dancing with the Stars and So You Think You Can Dance? as well as movies like Take the Lead, which have Americans hooked to watching ballroom and some people are now even trying it for themselves.

Dancing with the Stars is a type of reality TV show where celebrities (usually B-listers or ones trying to make a comeback) are partnered with a professional ball room dancer, and compete each week learning a new style of ballroom dance. Each contestant usually only has 4 or 5 days to learn the new style and their specific choreography before having to dance it live on national television, and each week the couple with the lowest combined score from the judges and viewers votes gets eliminated. This show, has an audience of about 20 million for each show, and many believe has reignited the unforgotten love of ball room dancing into America’s hearts.

Ashley Martins, an avid viewer of Dancing with the Stars, admits, “I started watching last season because my friend made me watch the show and I got hooked. I loved it because it was so entertaining.” These TV programs as well as movies have helped ballroom dancing infiltrate the popular mainstream and once again become a popular form of entertainment and dance. “There are so many entertaining aspects like the costumes, the dancing, the music, and the crazy comments from the judges, and the semi-celebrity contestants who are trying to make career comebacks,” laughed Ashley. “I love when they do the behind the scene things like showing the rehearsals and interviews about the dancers’ scores because the couples are always being funny and goofing off.”

However, fans of the dancing shows aren’t the only people excited about the popularity of Dancing with the Stars, ballroom professionals and teachers have enjoyed the show’s fame. Local ballroom dancer Sara Coelho and instructor at East Bay Ballroom in Newport has been participating in ballroom for 10 years, since college and is trained in Latin, swing, and country style ballroom. Sara supports these shows even though she hasn’t been able to watch them much (she teaches classes every night when the shows are on), saying, “It’s great that the movies and T.V. shows have made ballroom dancing something to talk about. It’s fun to watch and really fun to do, it helps show that anyone can dance if they want to.”

Along with supporting the mainstreaming of her ballroom passion Sara has been reaping some of the benefits at her classes, she says, “I think it’s great that there is such a buzz about ballroom! I live here in Newport so my goal has been to have a community of dancers here and an environment where people can have fun as they grow as dancers! It’s great that there is interest because that will help our community grow. I have noticed more parties for company’s and gift certificates for dance. ”

She has recently even had a chance to help some locals pretend to be contestants of their favorite ballroom dance show. “The Hyatt just hired me they were getting ready for there yearly employee dinner party and they wanted to do a dancing with the stars contest they all came to private group class they set up for all there employee it was for four weeks and then on the night of there party each couple danced for a minute and they judged each other (all lead and follow), explained Sara beaming, “They had a lot of fun with it!”

Although she ultimately believes the show is a blessing for the ballroom community and for dancers she does caution that the audience must remember a lot of preparation goes into the dances they see these celebrities performing. “I would like people to know that just because the TV show is an hour doesn’t mean that it take just an hour to learn how to dance,” says Sara. “It’s a process just like playing the piano or doing karate and learning choreographed moves is different than learning how to socially lead and follow out on the dance floor.”

Ashley also admits that there are a few flaws with the show, she says, “I dislike that there is too much filler between the dances, and the result show is way too long – it is just a waste of time. But mostly I dislike Samantha Harris (one of the hosts) because she is not funny and just annoying.” Even though the show has some problems Ashley thinks they are only minor and still plans to watch the show for seasons to come. Despite the fact that this season is not finished Ashley is already eager about next season wondering who the celebrity dancers could be for Dancing with the Stars. She personally is hoping that, “I would love to see Jonathan Taylor Thomas on the show because I love him and I miss him and I think he should be back in the public eyes and dance his way back into America’s heart.”

Many viewers of shows like Dancing with the Stars would love a chance to get to learn the dances their favorite celebrities are performing. The show makes the old African proverb “if you can walk, you can dance” really seem true, and has persuaded many fans to try a hand at this art form. “Dancing is always something I’ve wanted to do, especially ballroom, and watching the show makes me want to do it even more because it just looks like so much fun and it makes a woman look graceful and pretty,” admits Ashley who’s wanted to take lessons since watching the show. However many fans of ballroom like Ashley haven’t had the opportunity or time to explore this interest of theirs.

Grabbing on this new trend of ballroom dancing Salve has decided to help students like Ashley by offering a one credit dance class for next semester teaching the art of ballroom. The course will let students learn a couple of different styles of ballroom dance, starting with the elegant foxtrot and energetic swing. Sara of East Bay Ballroom will be teaching the class at Salve, “I will be teaching the fundamentals of leading and following, timing, and how to move and look good on the dance floor! The class will be so much fun it will be something they can take with them long after graduation,” says Sara. “It’s like riding a bike once you learn it you don’t forget it. Plus its get exercise and social too! You don’t need a partner and its beginner friendly!”