Regional DanceSport contest lets dancers show off their steps

Advocate staff photo by Kerry Maloney

Jerry and Nikki Dvorak of Tampa, Fla., spin around the dance floor Saturday at the Holiday Inn Select during the 2005 USA DanceSport South Central Regional Championship.

About a dozen smartly dressed couples were facing each other on the dance floor of the Holiday Inn Select on Constitution Avenue on Saturday afternoon. Many were wearing nervous grins, but when the music started, the nervousness disappeared and the couples began a graceful rumba.

But these dancers weren't the gray-haired socialites one might expect. They're members of a club from Mandeville High School, and they were among the 140 or so couples, ages 8 to nearly 80, competing in the amateur division of the 2005 USA Dance South Central Regional DanceSport Championship.

DanceSport is the official name for the fast-growing sport of competitive ballroom dancing.

While there is no official count of the total number of DanceSport enthusiasts, at least 300 colleges and universities in the United States have teams, according to the American Amateur Ballroom Dancing Association.

DanceSport recently was recognized by the United States and International Olympic committees as a nonmedal exhibition sport. Louisiana DanceSport president Ann Durocher, who was the chairwoman of Saturday's event, said that she hopes to see the sport become an Olympic medal event within 12 years.

The types of dancing include everything from waltz to samba to swing. Age divisions range from preteen (9 and under) to Senior (50 and over).

Leslie Carlson, the Mandeville High School club's dance instructor, marveled at how much more confident, socially adept and physically mature her charges had become in the two years of the club's existence.

"When these boys come in, they're all feet, knees, and elbows," Carlson said. "It helps them to mature into themselves."

For the Mandeville teenagers, working closely with the opposite sex obviously was a major draw, but they clearly were excited by their first competition.

"It just flew by," said Matthew Radondo, 18, one of the club's co-founders. "All those hours of work, and it's over in three minutes. It was pretty easy, though. We all had a blast."

Michael Nolan, 57, a former USA DanceSport national champion from Tampa, Fla., said that the skill level and competitive spirit of the sport have improved dramatically in the 10 years that he's been involved. Nolan is a computer programmer and former amateur motorcycle racer who was hooked on DanceSport from the first twirl.

"After that first weekend (of competitive dancing), I was hooked. I sold all my cycles after that," Nolan said.

While praising the social benefits of competitive dancing, Nolan particularly was enthusiastic about the health benefits.

"It's great exercise," Nolan said. "You're soaking wet after a minute and 45-second dance. We get marathoners who are exhausted after five dances."

And don't try telling Nolan that ballroom dancing is wimpy. He once needed surgery to repair an injured knee after doing a dance step improperly.

"I've crashed a motorcycle at 100 miles per hour and didn't even get hurt," he remarked.

Jennifer McCalla was one of the competition's judges. She said that different judges have different criteria for evaluating the dancers, but she stressed that the most important factor is "musicality."

"It's about how the movements of the body are reflective of the music," McCalla said. She said that many novice dancers make the mistake of dancing too quickly or aggressively, while more experienced dancers learn to slow things down and stay under control.

"The quality of the movements is important, not how fast they move," McCalla said.

Lane Barry of Baton Rouge, who has danced competitively for nine years, said that she was "ecstatic" to have a major DanceSport championship in her city for the first time. But it won't be the last time; the regional championship returns to Baton Rouge next year.