With Lessons, Even Two Left Feet Can Learn To Dance

Forget "Dancing with the Stars." Why not step out there yourself? Ahh. The old "two left feet" syndrome? I completely understand. I suffered from it myself.

That is, until my friend Ellica coerced me into going to a ballroom dance lesson so she could earn free sessions.

Dancing! The elegant kind, where your partner sweeps you down the long ballroom.

And sexy �" swishing your hips to a saucy Latino rhythm.

I thought I'd have the advantage there, being half Cuban. But I think I'm too reticent. I'm working on that.

Now, I'm hooked.

Hard to believe that my two left feet can follow the intricate steps of a tango or the elegant grace of a waltz. Nathan Foreman, my dance instructor, must be a miracle worker because I can actually ballroom dance now.

Sure, they're baby ballroom steps. But, by golly, I'm dancing! And I'm not the only one.

USA Dance counts more than 22,000 members in its 155 chapters nationwide. A little more than a decade ago, there were just 12 chapters.

The local chapter, Carolina Heartland, has grown from 62 members to 108 in less than two years, says member Lib Johnson.

And it's not just older couples reliving their heyday.

Youths account for 3,000 of USA Dance members, up from 200 a little more than a decade ago. Carolina Heartland's youngest member is 16.

Children as young as 10, middle-aged couples �" even a 30-something journalist �" sashay across the glossy wood floor at the Fred Astaire Dance Studio on Battleground Avenue.

Laura Wilson, 41, treks 50 minutes from Hillsborough twice a week for lessons with co-owner Alyosha Anatoliy. She followed him from his teaching days in Durham.

The duo glide across the floor during a recent practice. The turquoise gown Wilson created for an upcoming dance showcase twirls just so as Anatoliy swings her 'round and 'round. The swish of their choreographed steps barely rises above the lilting croon of Celine Dion.

I want to look like that. Someday, perhaps. I'm only on lesson four (not counting the short introductory lessons).

Wilson, who also studies ballet and figure skating, added ballroom dancing to her repertoire three years ago.

"It was something I wanted to do since I was a child watching Fred Astaire movies with my grandmother," Wilson says during a break.

Lydia Lopez, 60, also wanted to dance since she was a child. But being a wife and mother came first. She now has the time to treat herself, Lopez says.

"I love dancing," she says. "It's my passion." She and partner Sasha Tsyhankov, co-owner of the studio, took third and fourth place last month in a Pro-Am dance tournament in Argentina.

Dancing boosted his partner's confidence, Tsyhankov says. When she first started lessons, Lopez kept to herself.

Seven years later, she jokes with classmates and offers advice to freshmen dancers like myself. I get frustrated when I make the same mistakes. Poor Nathan. I'll probably have to buy him a new pair of shoes as recompense. He just smiles and says not to worry. "You'll get it." Lydia also pooh-poohs mistakes. It's a part of the experience, she says.

"Like they tell me, 'Don't think about it,'" she says. "Enjoy. It will come." Tom Sharpe, 61, shares my frustrations.

"It's the hardest thing I've ever done," he says.

But that doesn't mean he will stop. He's fallen in love with dancing. The lessons were originally a gift for his wife, Dobie, for her 57th birthday in October.

The Reidsville couple say dancing is a pastime they can enjoy together.

"No matter how you feel when you come in, when you leave, you're leaving happy," Dobie Sharpe says.

She likes the stately waltz. The rhythmic rumba captured his fancy.

During a break from dancing, a flushed Tom Sharpe confides in me.

"If I can learn it," he says, "anybody can learn it." Most of the students tell me this and encourage me to keep dancing.

"I have never felt this healthy and this young in my entire life," says Carol Kruep, 51.

A newspaper ad lured her to the studio 13 months ago. She now takes several lessons a week, either one-on-one or group sessions. She's also learning to dance the male lead.

"I want to be able to dance all the time. As you can see, we ladies have to sit," she says, pointing to a row of women waiting for the next dance when the guys switch to new partners.

I'm up for a little salsa. Maybe a foxtrot. Like I said, why watch the stars dance on TV? I'd rather take a whirl around the dance floor myself.

Two left feet and all.

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