This website is dedicated to social dancing in Alabama and neighboring states. Be it ballroom, country-western, swing, argentine tango, cajun/zydeco or salsa, you'll find some information about your favorite dance style.

Come on in and stay a while and browse. Check the calendar of events, read Elita's inspiring column, view the picture gallery, the video clips, area newsletters and announcements, great southern dance links, dance tips, and even some quotes and jokes.

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Don't forget to add this web site to your favorites. Last updated  02/04/12 

Associated Web Sites

Dance classes in the Montgomery area

Ballroom

Fridays
301 Club, 301 Dexter Avenue, Montgomery (The New Church, side entrance)

Class 6:30 $5/person.
February: Foxxy
March: Cha Cha
  Classes taught by Steve Chambers

Party 7:30.

Dancin' Ballroom Dance Studio, 3847 Narrow Lane Rd., Montgomery
www.dancinballroom.com

T.B.A.

Strict Tempo Ballroom
436 Coliseum Blvd., Montgomery
www.stricttempo.com

Tuesdays
Group lessons with David Marlow 7:00 - 9:30, $10.

Self organized classes
Organize your own class and save. Get together 5 or more couples and we will teach you the dance of your choice in a group class setting on a mutually agreeable day and time.

West Coast Swing

Tonya Speed Dance Connection
3370 Harrison Rd., Montgomery
Thursdays 8:00-9:00
Classes taught by Steve Chambers

for details see www.dancechambers.com

Alabama Amateur Dancers in the Spotlight

Congratulations to Kathy Jones (right) of Prattville and Kimmie Yee (left) of Birmingham for placing in the 2012 UCWDC World Championships in Orlando. Kimmie Yee placed 3rd in Diamond Intermediate and 5th in Crystal Intermediate, while Kathy placed 3rd in Female Gold Novice. And a big hand to Chris Bailey, their coach and partner.

 

And congratulations also to Darry Martin of Gadsden and Sara Coates who were the only finalists from Alabama at the USA Dance 2011 National DanceSport Championships. They placed 3rd in the Senior III Championship Rhythm division.

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).

The great divide
Did you know that the way we dance here in America is not the way they do it in the rest of the world? Click here to find out what the difference is.

Ballroom Dance Styles

Murray Echols of Birmingham reminds us: ballroom dancing includes 17 styles of dances:  Foxtrot, Waltz, Viennese Waltz (fast), East Coast Swing, West Coast Swing, Jive, Hustle, Quickstep, Polka, Chacha, Tango, Rumba, Samba, Mambo, Merengue, Bolero, Paso Doble.  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.

Want to know more about the Texas Whip - http://www.ssqq.com/stories/whiphist.htm

What's in a name?
Call it Club Swing, 4-count Swing, Merengue hustle or 4-count hustle, it's all the same swing or hustle steps done one step per beat. If you're doing it hustle-style, stay in the slot.

Dancing helps Parkinson's patients
Doctors can't explain it. But Parkinson's patients who dance are normal again once they are on the dance floor. Click HERE to see the video clip.

Keep your heart healthy
Italian researchers found ballroom dancing is as effective as traditional cardiac rehabilitation in improving the health of people with heart trouble.

read more at http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=6622283&sc=emaf

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 chas require 7 steps per six beats, and  triple step swings requires 8 steps for every six beats.

Keep your mind active
But dancing is not just good for the body. According to the latest research, it is equally as good for your mind.

The proof is in. Dancing is good for body and mind.
Did you know that 90 seconds of Latin competitive dancing requires the equivalent energy of running an 80 meter dash?
We all know that dancing is a good physical exercise. But unlike other activities, ballroom dancing also stimulates your brain cells. Medical studies show that ballroom dancing is far superior to many other physical activities in preventing dementia, such as Alzheimer's.
Read more

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, nocturnia, 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.

What is hand dance?
Hand Dance seems to be gaining in popularity in many parts of the country. Here is a description by Barry Durand from the D.C. web site http://www.smoothnez.com.

Hand dance is basically an older style of swing that is really popular in the African American communities in Washington DC and Baltimore with some spill over to Philadelphia. I have taken hand dance lessons off and on for the past year and can tell you first hand that it has properties of East coast swing (Jitterbug) as well as West coast swing. Some leads and follows are what I would call "street". Meaning that they kind of came up with their own rules that they all know. It is sometimes contrary to more established forms of dance such as ballroom, country, or west coast which have many similar properties of lead and follow. It is fun and is danced by many. I just had about 150 hand dancers at my swing event last weekend. The largest organization in the DC area is call Smooth & EZ. You can find out about them at http://www.smoothnez.com. See the hand dance history http://youtu.be/VtEBmJ5_u0Q

Read more interesting articles about ballroom dancing by clicking here.

In order to sway the Olympic committee to include ballroom dancing as an Olympic event, the promoters of the Olympic movement coined the name "DanceSport". But is ballroom dancing really a sport? And is DanceSport, which relies on choreographed and rigorously rehearsed theatrical routines, really ballroom dancing? In addition, some of ballroom dancing's governing organization are engaged in a fierce battle over which one should have jurisdiction over Olympic DanceSport competitors.

All in all, it seems that the Olympic committee is not convinced of the merits of ballroom dancing as an Olympic sport.

One longtime adjudicator of both DanceSport and Ice Dancing competitions offers this insight.
Read more

In USA WEEKEND's Aug. 13-15, 2004 issue, the following was written about DanceSport and the Olympic games:
What is it? Basically, it's ballroom dancing. The sport is divided into two categories: Latin and Standard.
Why it should be included? "Research has shown DanceSport to be every bit as demanding on the cardiovascular system as track and field," says Jim Fraser, president of the Canadian Amateur DanceSport Association.
How it hopes to get recognized: "I've got actively involved in my own country's Olympic committee," Fraser says. "It's like applying for a job. You keep showing up, and they wonder,' What are we going to do with this guy?'"
Endorsement potential: Dicey. DanceSport "Is not our core market," says Tom Fox, a senior VP of Gatorade. "I don't want to sponsor something if no one is going to see it."
What the man on the street says: "Ballroom dancing isn't a sport. It's an art." - Lois Wheelock, 56, Plympton, Mass.

John Doerter from Little Rock, AR writes: Dance is "athletic art" IMO not sport.  I state this because "How" something is performed matters.   To me sports eliminate the subjective "How" as much as possible and concentrate only on the what.
 
Ice skating, Diving, Gymnastics, and synchronized swimming, are all examples of athletic art in the Olympics.   the form in which the "what" occurs is graded. 100 m crawl, High Jump, and water polo; are sport because the "opinion of the judges" is minimized to the greatest extent possible.  Doesn't matter how bad you look doing it, if you jump over a higher bar than everyone else without knocking it down... you win.  To me that is Sport. in it's pure form.  When you start judging form and style,  you are talking about Art.  As far as Ballroom dancing in the Olympics,  it belongs there as much as ice skating.  

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.