Tag Archives: Ballroom Dancing

Entertainment, Exercise

Yet another reason to like ballroom dancing . . .

1 Comment

Ballroom dancing has been a great empty-nest hobby for us.  Lots of fun, challenges, meeting new people, good exercise, new experiences, etc.  One of the side reasons that I like ballroom dancing is that it is now wildly counter-cultural.  Why?  Because it still has unique roles for men and women.  The LGBTQX movement will probably start to attack Planet Ballroom, Fred Astaire, etc. for being such haters, but for now it is fun going to a place where people are still sane.

Examples: In group and in private classes they always teach unique roles for the men and for the women.  Go figure!  Men always lead, and, other than the women needing to keep there feet from being stepped on, mistakes are always the responsibility of the guy.  Or so they say.

I did see a gay couple come into a studio once.  The poor instructor — who was probably Leftist himself — was tied up in knots trying to explain the roles without saying “man’s part,” “women’s part,” etc.  Sorry, dudes, someone has to lead.

Our main instructor in our prior city was gay, but even he had no issues with the specific male/female roles.

Family / fun

Ballroom dancing

14 Comments
An RKO publicity still of Astaire and Rogers d...
Image via Wikipedia

My wife and I started taking ballroom dance lessons last month to celebrate our 25th anniversary and have really enjoyed it.  It is a great way to spend time together and learn something new.  I never liked free form dancing but ballroom is much different.  The key for me is just breaking it down and getting lots of repetition.

Do any of you do ballroom dancing?  What do you like about it?

We’re about ready to venture out into the public.  A friend told us about this place in the Heights that plays some big band music at least one Saturday a month.  Any other good places to go in the North Houston area?  We thought it would be fun to get some friends to go out together now and then.

We’ve covered a lot of dances – Rumba, Cha cha, Waltz, Foxtrot, Salsa, Swing, Two step, and more.  Some are progressing more than others!  We were leaving one night and I noted that I really enjoyed the Mamba.  My wife pointed out that a mamba is a poisonous African snake and that I probably meant the Rumba.  (She was right, though I should have claimed I meant it as a combination of the Samba and the Rumba).

We are taking at a Fred Astaire studio close to our house.  We’ve been really pleased with the instructors.  Very thorough and friendly.  If you tell them we referred you it is only $25 for a startup package with two private lessons and one group lesson (and they give us a free lesson).  The group lessons aren’t very large – we’ve never had more than 5 people in a class.  Note: It gets more expensive after the trial: There are packages that average $100 for a private lesson and a week of group lessons (i.e., $400 for 4 private lessons and 4 weeks of unlimited group lessons).  But group lessons are only $25 and you can learn a lot in those.

They also have free Saturday night open dancing for students, sort of a ballroom dance party.  They play music for all the different dances and are glad to give you tips along the way.