Previously published in the March 2017 Sturbridge Times Magazine. Text below photo.
Why just settle for watching the start of the new season of Dancing with the Stars on March 20? With the number of area venues that offer beginner ballroom lessons and nights out, there's no better time for you to get up from your couch, face the music, and do some dancing.
“Without beginners, you don’t have
dancing,” says Steele Shane, Director of Dance Programs at the Longfellow
Tennis and Health Club in Wayland. “It couldn’t sustain itself.” Steele delights
in guiding inexperienced dancers through a West Coast Swing lesson from 8 to 9
PM, the first hour of Longfellow’s monthly WCS dance held the second Saturday
of every month. This month’s dance is March 11.
Talking with Steele, I remembered my
first ballroom lesson, some fourteen years ago. Silly me, I was approaching my mid-fifties
and never had a dance lesson. Yet, there I was learning to waltz with a partner
who understood rhythm much better than I. He emphasized the initial step of
each cluster with ease, as he triple-stepped down the school cafeteria floor: ONE – two – three, ONE - two – three. I followed
his lead, stepping to the rear, attempting to do what Ginger did with Fred,
every move backward and in heels. This was no time for fancy. I needed to stay
on my feet. And stay on them I did. Still do.
Newcomers who have fun with this same
kind of learning experience at Longfellow’s monthly WCS dances often sign up
for private, semiprivate, and group lessons afterward.
Steele and his staff teach Waltz, West Coast Swing, Salsa, Cha Cha,
and Two-step among other dance styles. As with the monthly dance, you do not
need to attend class with a partner.
Deborah
Schur, who has danced her way from beginner to intermediate levels over the
last decade or so, enjoys meeting up with friends at Longfellow’s dance nights and
taking lessons from a variety of instructors. Though she calls herself “a
person who just likes to dance,” her initiation came at a time when her
confidence waned, after a second bout with breast cancer. “The dance floor
became my safe spot,” says Deborah. A spot where she has danced with a variety
of partners, young and old, including a thirteen-year-old boy from Canada who
is now a Worlds champion.
Jared
Vigneault, owner of Poise Style & Motion in Worcester says a private single
or couple class can be less frustrating than a group class for the
inexperienced ballroom dancer. PS&M offers one free private lesson with any
one of its ten instructors. From the look of their bios on the studio’s website,
TV’s DWTS team has nothing over their
range of expertise in traditional ballroom dances (Waltz, Foxtrot, Tango,
Quickstep, Rhumba, Cha-Cha, Swing) and nontraditional ones (Hustle, Salsa). All
levels from beginners to advanced dancers can attend the studio’s weekly Dance
Parties on the first three Friday’s of the month. On the fourth Friday, the
Party moves to S.A.G. Park, a larger venue in Shrewsbury.
Every
Saturday night the ABL DanceSport Center in West Boylston transforms its 10,000
square-foot facility to Club Ballroom, attracting singles and couples ages 18
to 80. The weekly event starts with beginner lessons from 7 to 8 PM.
When
it comes to teaching inexperienced dancers, “it’s all about customer service,”
says Steele. The dance instructor’s job is to figure out solutions to the
problems beginner customers encounter as they learn to trip the light fantastic.
Trip – as in the poetic expression for “dancing
with quick light steps” that is. For more information about adult classes and
dances call these venues or visit their websites.
Longfellow
Club, 524 Boston Post Rd., Wayland, MA 01778, (508) 358-7355, https://www.longfellowclubs.com/dance
Poise Style & Motion, 97 Webster
St, Worcester, MA 01603, (508) 752-4910, http://psmdance.com/
ABL DanceSport Center, 184 West
Boylston St. West Boylston, MA 01583, (508)925-4537,
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