Social Dance Night is our weekly ballroom class, which began in May 2008 and has been held every week since (except holidays). Tom began ballroom dancing on a whim when I dragged him to a class my parents were attending just after we met, and then he continued going to classes on his own. I will be totally honest with you--he was no natural! I say this only to encourage people who feel awkward on the dance floor, because you would never know it to see him dance now.
Anyway, ballroom proved to be a great outlet for him during college, and later he wound up teaching for a few months between jobs, and loved it. He later taught for about a year in Charlottesville before our third daughter was born, and so of course when we opened the studio we wanted to include regular ballroom classes as part of our offerings. The one thing that Tom never loved about the ballroom world was the competition. Oh, we're not knocking it--it can be so much fun to get all dressed up and work on a routine and show off on the floor. But what we like even better is just getting out on the dance floor and having fun, chatting and laughing with no pressure to be perfect.
A lot of people think they can't dance, and we believe this is because people aren't taught to dance socially anymore. It's not just about the steps, but about knowing how to lead and follow, and being comfortable enough with that to be able to talk with the person you're dancing with at the same time. You need a familiarity with a few dances, but you don't need to know every single step of every single dance to have a great time.
So what we focus on in our weekly lessons is just that: social dancing, leading and following, and cretaing a sense of ease on the dance floor, all while having a great time. We have had a lot of luck with this class (in fact, we've never had a night when no one showed up, which is exciting for an adult class in a new studio in such a small town), but recently we have had a small but extremely steady group who all expressed wanting a few more people in class.
So please tell everyone you know about Social Dance Night! The best part is, it's a drop-in class, so there's no committment. For $15 per person you can come whenever it works for you. We are here every Thursday night from 7-10pm (sometimes we end around 9pm if people are tired) and we rotate dances monthly. This month we are teaching samba (so fun!) and tango. We'd love to see you there!!!
These students were Mint Patties in our production of The Magic Candy Shop, but we re-named the dance Echoes of the Sea for this show. The music, by local group Zephyrus, was a capella women's voices, and absolutely beautiful.
These students, who played Candy Canes in The Magic Candy Shop, danced to music by Stuart Gunter, another local musician (and friend!) who freelances all over the place and also works with Sandalwood Studios. The kids LOVED this piece, called 3rd Dimension, and we re-named the dance Triple Helix for this performance.
My very first dance class was held in a gymnastics studio. My teacher, Miss Margot, was tall and elegant and very nice. I remember doing tick-tock clocks across the floor (although I can't remember quite HOW we did them). I think I was four. I do remember our recital, where we played Duck Duck Goose as part of the "show."
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