Shall we dance?

By Cristin Ross

August 27, 2008 06:51 pm

— With the popularity of TV shows like “Dancing with the Stars” and “So You Think You Can Dance,” ballroom dancing has been pulled out of yesteryear for a whole new generation.
Thanks to Jacksonville dance instructor Charlene McCauley, the poise, grace and agility of traditional ballroom dances are easy to come by in Cherokee County.
McCauley’s been teaching ballroom and country and western dance in Jacksonville for three seasons.
“When I first started (offering dance classes in Jacksonville) I didn’t really know what kind of response I would get,” she admitted. “But when 70 people showed up for my first class that first season, I though, ‘whoa, Jacksonville dances!’”
She began ballroom dancing at the tender age of 16, fell in love with it and eventually trained as an instructor.
“I enjoy sharing dance with others — that truly brings me joy,” she confessed. “I look at it as an investment in yourself. It’s one of the best ways to stay healthy, active and social.”
McCauley said her classes are usually a pretty even mix of men and women, young and old.
“Usually it’s the wife’s idea to take the classes,” she said. “The husbands admit it wasn’t their idea to sign up.
“But after a few classes, most of them start to warm up to it and by the end of the course, I have several who come up and tell me they were really surprised at how much they actually enjoyed learning ballroom dancing.”
Jacksonville resident Bob Bingham was no stranger to dancing, having done some Big Band dancing following World War II. He said he took his ballroom lessons with a friend.
“When I started, I danced with Charlene a couple times and she makes a fella look good,” he said with a laugh. “It was always a lot of fun, especially when you consider dancing is something most people can do for the rest of their lives. It’s not hard or strenuous.
“I’ll be 85 years old in December and I highly recommend taking dance lessons,” he said.
Ballroom dancing — or any kind of dancing — is not only fun, it’s healthy, too.
Arthur Murray Inter-national, the dance studio franchise McCauley studied under in her formative years in Dallas, reports ballroom dancing is getting a lot more credit as a true athletic ability, since the International Olympic Committee gave the activity provisional recognition.
“Ballroom dance is a rigorous activity that uses the larger muscle groups, and is usually done over the course of an hour, or an entire evening,” studio President George B. Theiss said in a release on the franchise’s Web site. “It’s most frequently compared to ice dancing, and no one would question the athletic ability of an ice skater. Since we work without gliding across ice, it’s possible that a competitive ballroom dancer might even be in better shape than a figure skater.”
Because ballroom dance is a low impact activity, it’s suitable for people of any age or fitness level. McCauley recommends anyone interested in beginning ballroom dancing lessons to consult their doctors first.
“It also helps keeps you in shape mentally,” McCauley said. “It’s great for strengthening memory retention skills.”
The history of ballroom dances is long and varied, just like the myriad of dances that are classified as ballroom dance, including the waltz, the fox-trot, the rumba and the classic wedding dance.
Probably the most recognized ballroom dance is the waltz. Derived from the German word “waltzen,” — meaning “to turn or glide” — the waltz is done in three quarter time with the strongest step on the first beat; the pattern is a basic step-step-close.
According to the Web site, www.ballroomcrazy.com, the waltz started in the higher parts of Vienna in the early 17th century
“Many of our waltz tunes can actually be traced to the yodeling peasants of that time,” the Web site states.
When waltzes began showing up in the ballrooms of the Hapsburg court in Vienna, the dance became known as the “Forbidden Dance,” because Viennese couples touched one another through the dance.
“Touching in a dance was totally unheard of,” the Web site states. “Dances then were standing across from your partners and so forth. But because of the waltz, many church and community members as well as officials of the Austrian community began to quetch loudly.
“But just like today, it was popular among the youth dancers and they carried on the dancing.”
During the 18th century, the dance-style emmigrated to France and continued to gain in popularity.
The waltz debuted in the U.S. in 1834. Boston dancing master Lorenzo Papanti presented the dance at the Beacon Hill Mansion owned by Mrs. Otis.
“The societal leaders of Boston were aghast and dismayed,” the online dancing site states. “They called it “an indecorous exhibition.””
But by the middle of the 19th century, waltzing had made its name and was here to stay.
“The best thing for me is to have a student who comes in thinking he’s got two left feet and seeing the joy and amazement they have at themselves when they suddenly wake up one day and realize he’s a dancer,” McCauley said. “It’s just a lot of fun to watch that personal growth, and to help people achieve that.”
Dance classes begin on Sept. 3 at St. John’s United Methodist Church in Jacksonville.

Want to sign up?
Dance instructor Charlene McCauley’s Jacksonville dance classes are $55 a person for the six-week course. Classes in country and western style dance and ballroom dancing begin Wednesday, Sept. 3. Country and western style classes meet 7 to 8 p.m. and ballroom classes meet 8 to 9 p.m. at St. John’s United Methodist Church, 202 Beaumont St., Jacksonville. Call 903-586-3585 for more information or to register for a class.

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