National Dance Council of America (NDCA)
USA Dance Inc.

The United States Imperial Society of Teachers of Dance

International Dance Sport Federation (IDSF)

United Country and Western Dance Council (UCWDC)

American Bop Association (Swing Organization)
World Swing Dance Council
 

The Ballroom Club, Montgomery

North Alabama Dance Club, Florence

For other dance classes in central Alabama and western Georgia read Cody Wayne Foot's newsletter.

Many ballroom dancers learn eight to ten of these well.  Some know the basics of many of the others.  Some only learn a few such as East Coast Swing, Waltz, Chacha, Rumba, and still enjoy the dances very much.  Others do their own street styles of slow dancing and jitterbug (ECS) and can hold their own and enjoy.  Some dancers get their start in swing dancing or Country-Western dancing or Cajun/Zydeco dancing or line dancing or round dancing, and use what they have learned to become ballroom dancers also. 

All dance styles use some steps invented by Greeks and Romans as early as 750 BC, and from many other countries and groups later.

For the last 25 years, Mary Peterson and Steve Behr have organized an annual outreach program in Hawaii, doing presentations and many ballroom lessons at nursing and retirement facilities, senior centers and one Alzheimer unit.

 

This lady is 92, dancing son and salsa with her great great grandson. To watch her fabulous performance, click HERE .

Swing dancing has become immensely popular, both among the young and the old alike, and there are many events, far and wide, for the swing dance enthusiasts. Read The Birmingham Swing Dancers newsletter to find out what's happening in east coast swing swing, or check The Steel City Swing newsletters for Lindy hop activities. Chris Bailey's web site will keep you up-to-date on west coast swing and other country-western dances and classes in his newsletter.

If you're into Cajun/Zydeco, David Doggett of ACME keeps you posted. Read his newsletter.

Argentine tango anybody. Join Sarah and Roswell Pfister almost every Saturday at the Homewood Senior Center to learn this intricate and exciting dance form. For the latest information, click here. Or look for classes or Milongas organized by Lynda and Rick Wilson on their website, www.tangosalon.com  . 

Follow this link to big band music and videos http://www.tuxjunction.net/videos.htm

What is ballroom dance? http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ballroom_dance

The best dancing ever. For those who are old enough to remember, and those who wish they were. The dancers are Fred Astaire and Eleanor Powell. The year is 1940 (more than 70 years ago). The narrator is Frank Sinatra. It was filmed in ONE unedited camera shot. It is considered by many as one of the best dance scenes ever filmed. Watch the video .

Global Dance TV
Want to see some of the best dancing whenever you feel like it. Sign on to Global Dance TV at http://www.globaldance.tv/ and enjoy. You'll be able to just click on the icon on your desktop and voila, anything from ballroom to C-W to WCS. This is one of the best deals on the web. You need a high-speed connection though, preferably cable.

History of ballroom dancing
Follow this link for a very thorough and scholarly outline of the history of ballroom dances. Also included is a time-line of dance from prehistoric eras to the present.  http://www.ballroom.org/history_of_ballroom_dancing.htm

Following: The art of doing nothing. A new look at following. A must-read for the ladies.

What sets ballroom dancing apart from any other style of dancing? How does leading and following work? Find some useful hints in Bringing out the best in your partner.

What is your motivation to dance? Read Why do we go dancing?

Are you a dance junkie? Find out the telltale signs in Confessions of a dance junkie.

Learn proper dance etiquette and be much more popular on the dance floor.
They are part of the tradition of ballroom dancing. Besides, they add to the pleasure, comfort and safety for you and your partner. Read Dance Etiquette to find out the do's and don'ts.

Is it OK to take lessons from more than one teacher or studio? Read Why feel bad by John Morey (Salseroblanko) from Huntsville.

Most of us have no idea how much work and dedication it takes to organize and keep a dance club going. We Alabamians are truly fortunate to have so many hard working dance club volunteers organizing and hosting ballroom dance events in towns and cities across the state almost every day of the year. Show your support by becoming a members of these clubs and by attending their dances. You'll not only add a lot of enjoyment to your life, it will also improve your physical and mental health.

Look at the 'Events' page. There are between 250 and 350 social dances listed every month. Let's all go dancing and enjoy the benefits of exercise, mental stimulation, and pleasant company. Or, as my friend, Heather Diodati of www.whimsies-online.com would say: "Carpe Dancem" (seize the dance). 

Sara Scatasta, one of my web site visitors and e-mail friends writes the following, and includes the picture below:

There is one competition in Frankfurt (Hessen Tanzt) which is amazing. Imagine a skating ring divided in 8 dance floors, where 8 events run simultaneously and in each category (from bronze to open) there are at least a 100 couples registered. There were 5000 couples registered for this comp this past May. 1 Round can last 2 hours (attached is a picture). Here in Germany the cost of entering the floor is only 5 Euro  for the 10 dances, so there are a lot of people competing.

Watch this video showing the amazing effects of ballroom dancing on patients with Parkinson's disease http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UEAaWPHDRbk .

Burn those calories
I just did a little calculation. Assume you're dancing for about 1 hour. You're dancing foxtrot the whole time. That means you are taking 4 steps to every 6 beats of music. Foxtrot is played at about 120 beats per minute, which means you're taking about 80 steps a minute. This adds up to 4,800 steps an hour.  That in my view is a very impressive workout, particularly if you consider that dances such as cha cha require 7 steps per six beats, and  triple step swings requires 8 steps for every six beats.

Did you know that 90 seconds of Latin competitive dancing requires the equivalent energy of running an 80 meter dash?

Men, listen up! Ballroom dancing can reduce the symptoms of prostatism.
Dr. Jonathan V. Wright, a noted expert on male urinary problems writes this in his publication 'Nutrition and Healing': BPH symptoms (frequency, urinary urgency, nocturia, decreased size of stream, etc.) may not be caused by an enlarged prostate at all.

Instead they may be caused by a condition known as prostatism, which is related to the muscles in the prostate and the neck of the bladder. These smooth muscle cells are under the control of the sympathetic nervous system, and they tense up and contract just like all other muscles. The feelings that occur mimic the symptoms of BPH.

The key to relieving prostatism is adopting a treatment program that includes something that will relax your muscles. I had one patient who could only empty his bladder completely after a night of ballroom dancing. The motion of the dancing and the social atmosphere relaxed him sufficiently enough to regulate bladder function.

This web site was first aired in mid-January 2003 with the goal of providing ballroom dancers with accurate and current information on ballroom dance events in Alabama, with some emphasis on events in and within driving distance of Montgomery. Since then, the website has grown in size and scope, with a dance calendar of events that includes dances in several states, including Mississippi, Arkansas, Louisiana, Florida, Georgia and Tennessee. Many of my dance friends tell me that they do not travel without first checking my website for places to dance at their destination. Today, the calendar of events lists more than 300 dance events every month in 7 states.

Many of  you are regularly visiting this site for an average of more than 30 visits every day, or a total of almost 68,000 visits as of January 2011. This is far more than I ever expected. My sincere thanks to all my web visitors. I hope I can keep the content interesting and relevant. My special thanks to Murray Echols of Birmingham for providing me with valuable information, much needed encouragement,  and sound advice from the very beginning.

My thanks to ballroom dancers, ballroom club organizers, ballroom dance bands and suppliers of ballroom dance products for their support and help. Without them, a non-commercial web site such as this would not be possible.

My thanks also to web masters throughout Alabama, neighboring states and from other places in the U.S.A. and abroad who have kindly provided a link to my web site for their visitors.

Special thanks to those tireless people who regularly compile newsletters containing dance information for their particular area. Without them, it would be extremely difficult for me to keep up-to-date on dance events throughout the Southeast.

And finally, thanks to all the ballroom dance enthusiasts who visit my site, send me encouraging e-mail, and talk to me at dances. I sincerely value their encouragement, ideas and suggestions.

René Zgraggen
Montgomery, AL