Shall we dance?
On Monday nights, Fort Myers’ Hall of 50 States becomes the Land of A Thousand Dances as couples swing and sway across the floor in a variety of styles. By AMY BENNETT WILLIAMS for The News-Press (Fort Myers)


Kay Janessen of Fort Myers, right, takes a spin with Charles Tyeryar, of North Fort Myers, during ballroom dancing night at the Hall of 50 States in downtown Fort Myers. TODD STUBING/news-press.com
Most of the time, the Hall of 50 States in downtown Fort Myers is still. The late-1920s Moorish-style building is quiet, save the occasional ring of a phone or whisper of papers.

But for a few hours every week, the old place glitters and swings. Nimble-footed dancers foxtrot, rumba and tango across its worn-but-polished floor under the 50 bright flags that represent its name.

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Ballroom blitz grips India
Endorsed by doctors in the fight against obesity, young Indians are turning on to vintage dancing, finds Helen Rowe in Delhi for The sunday Herald.


Vishal Marwala hardly seems the type for tea dances. In his sleek designer clothes and square-framed spectacles, he looks every bit the modern young executive.
But Vishal, a fund manager who usually spends weekends sipping cappuccinos or white water rafting in the Himalayas, is at the forefront of an unlikely new dance craze to sweep the Indian capital – ballroom.

Delhiites, many of them under 45, are throwing off their inhibitions and signing up to learn the waltz, jive and cha-cha.

At 29, doctoral student Julie Thekkudan is also an unlikely ballroom dancer, but like other aficionados she believes being young and hip should be no bar.

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Two articles from the latest issue of the ballroom dancing magazine "Dance Today":

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Training Dutch style

In the charming town of Hoogeveen in NE-Holland, Latin dancers from all over The Netherlands assembled for a four-day concentrated training course. This event happens twice a year, summer and winter, and is an excellent opportunity to work in depth on technique, style, body training and general conditioning. Robert Harrold reports for Dance Today

Strictly for dancers who are preparing for future competitions and championships, the atmosphere is one of dedication and hard work. Four days of continuous dancing also helps to develop stamina, much needed for anyone entering the competitive scene. Most dancers are in jobs and can only practice and have lessons in the evenings or at weekends so to have four whole days of work may be tiring, but really beneficial.

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Ballroom Blitz
by Iris Findlay for Dance Today

Every year at The Royal Festival Hall, London, during the August Bank Holiday Weekend, a celebration of Dance is held called Ballroom Blitz, with the whole day devoted to Ballroom and Latin Dancing, the last day of the Free Summer on the South Bank, with everyone welcome. During the day there were three separate sessions, each with a cabaret, a Coffee Dance from 1am -2pm, a Tea Dance from 3pm-6pm and the Ballroom Blitz from 7.30-10.30pm. Between the Tea Dance and Ballroom Blitz our host the Top DJ Nicky Miles who played fabulous music to dance to, took a Dance Workshop.

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Night of 100 Stars

Where can you watch 20 top couples dancing for the sheer love of it and take to the floor yourself? At The Night of 100 Stars presented by the Ballroom Dancers’ Federation. This year held on October 6 at the Paragon Hotel in Fulham, and, as always, the star dancers ‘gave’ their services to the BDF. In Dance Today, Patricia Daly’s report followed by BDF Vice President Norman White’s.

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Nurturing the future
For Dance Today, Sylvia Boerner met up with Professionals James and Claire Taplin at the latest EADA showcase, held in Warsash near Southampton, who, apart from their personal career, see exactly that as one of their vocations, co-organising and co-ordinating the EADA training course.

When currently looking at British dancing, the dance world can be pleased. In the Professional Modern, reigning World champions Christopher Hawkins and Hazel Newberry are continuously confirming their title, always closely followed by
Timothy Howson and Joanne Bolton and a number of other successful couples such as Alan and Donna Shingler. But, despite English couples in the finals, there are concerns about the gulf that comes behind with nobody backing them up. As in any sport, competition is tough and to maintain that level of quality demands an enormous amount of effort to be put into nurturing possible successors.

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The Tricky Business of Finding a New Dance Partner
For Dance Today, Rachel Holland has some practical advice on how to deal with the notoriously tricky business of finding a new dancing partner.

Welcome to the most heartbreaking aspect of competitive ballroom and Salsa dancing: you can't do it alone. And, to make matters worse, there aren't even enough men involved to go around! Looking for a new partner can be difficult.

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Brucie's ballroom bonus for BBC One
By Adam Sherwin for The Guardian


A REVIVAL of Come Dancing presented by Bruce Forsyth was announced yesterday as BBC One’s new weapon to capture Saturday-night viewers.
While ITV boasts Pop Idol with Ant and Dec, the BBC is returning to postwar entertainment as sequined dancers glide on to the ballroom floor.

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Articles from the latest edition of "Dance Today" magazine:

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Sydney goes Latin
One of the most popular events of the annual Sydney Festival, the Bacardi Latin Festival held at Darling Harbour runs for nine consecutive nights attracting more than 77,000 visitors. For Dance Today Angela Gilltrap was one of them.

Closing night at Sydney's Bacardi Latin Festival drew a record crowd despite gloomy weather. People of every nationality, age and gender filled the outdoor arena for free Salsa lessons courtesy of Club Salsa. The nightly programme also features live music and Latin dance exhibitions with tourists and locals alike getting into the festive atmosphere. With the Sydney City skyline acting as a spectacular backdrop, the Bacardi Latin Festival is nine days of great music, dancing and the best of Latin culture.

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And now for something completely different (or almost)

The Pink Jukebox Trophy 2004
by Alison Kirkman for Dance Today

The first Pink Jukebox Trophy took place eight years ago. It is a Ballroom and Latin competition solely for same sex dancers, organised by teacher Ralf Schiller and DJ Jacky Appleton to celebrate the birthday of the Pink Jukebox, a Ballroom and Latin club for same sex couples and their friends, set up in 1989.

The glamorous Rivoli Ballroom in South London is the venue for this annual event, which takes place on the third Saturday of February each year. This year, the Pink Jukebox Trophy was held there on February 24. It was a huge success and attracted more than 400 people from all over the world.

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The Open Middlesex Championships
by Iris Findlay for Dance Today

The Open Middlesex Championships and Trophies Competitions, organised by Philip Wylie and Pam Peters, were held at Egham Sports Centre on February 8, 2004. The programme started with the Juvenile and Junior Ballroom competitions followed by the Latin competitions. The hall was crowded with young dancers and their families all ready to start at 1am. The standard of dancing was very high in both Ballroom and Latin and the youngsters danced in every competition they could.

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From the Contra Costa Times,

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The latest batch of ballroom dancing articles from the May issue of Dance Today:

Strictly Dancing: The Search for Australia's Ultimate Dance Couple
From Dance Today

With a spin-off of the popular 70s show Come Dancing returning to our screens in May as Strictly Come Dancing, Australia, too, has rediscovered dancing as the search for Australia's ultimate dance couple is on. Down under the brand new television series is called Strictly Dancing and sees 48 couples from around Australia compete for this illustrious title. Already the show has exceeded expectations receiving rave reviews and topping TV ratings across the country. Angela Gilltrap was asked to be part of the commentary team.

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From strength to strength
The National Amateur Training course, the pilot scheme of which was launched in January 2001 (also see article in Dance Today! Dec 2003), is still going strong. Iris Findlay for Dance Today has more details about the scheme and the people involved in it

The concept of this project of Christopher Hawkins and Hazel Newberry, aided by the English Amateur Dancers Association, was to provide workshops and seminars for young amateur dancers using top Ballroom and Latin coaches and also specialists in other subjects to improve their performances.

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That Certain Something
From Dance Today


Style, Razzamatazz, that certain something — it’s what those judges are looking for, no matter how perfectly executed the dance routines are or how beautifully you can float across the dance floor. Style is what keeps the audiences’ eyes firmly fixed on YOU, and keeps them there. Do you have it? What is it exactly? And more importantly, just how can you acquire it? Rachel Holland finds out about “poise”.

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Scotland invited to come dancing
From The Times


MSPs agreed yesterday to write to Scotland’s Culture Minister, Frank McAveety, requesting more information on a wider national strategy for ballroom dancing.

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Alive: Sweep the floor with glamour
Ballroom dancing has hot-footed its way back with a new image — the good news is that it’s no longer strictly reserved for the over sixties, finds Lucy Sweet in The Sunday Times.


"We’ll go round the back way,” says Come Dancing veteran Diane Isherwood, pulling her smart silver Audi into a car park behind a graffiti-covered building. “Otherwise we’ll have to go through the pub, and if they see a big blonde like you coming in, they’ll never leave you alone.”

The Village pub in Muirhead, north Glasgow, up the road from Pat’s Chippy, hardly seems like the most glamorous place to take your first, tentative steps into the glittering world of ballroom dancing.

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University Challenge
From Dance Today

The 41 year old IVDA (Inter Varsity Dancesport Association) provides a forum for competitive and social dancing for all UK students. About 700 competitive and 7000 social dancers are official members, but the IVDA encompasses an estimated 12,000 dancers in several forms of dance across the country. In the past years, the IVDA has seen a constant increase in numbers, when other organisations have declined. So what is the secret of its success?

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Articles from the most recent issue of Dance Today

The BDF International Congress 2004
by Kate Worms for Dance Today

‘Back to the Future’ was the theme of this year’s International Congress organised by the Ballroom Dancers’ Federation. This biennial event took place over the weekend of May 29 to 30 in the Spanish Hall of the Winter Gardens, Blackpool. This was the first time that the complete event had taken place in this venue, which proved to provide an intimate and friendly
environment. Delegates could attend the whole congress or just choose particular morning or afternoon sessions. The programme itself comprised either ten half hour speciality lectures by designated experts or eight half hour lecture demonstrations by the world’s elite professional competitive couples, each using their skills to develop basic figures, under the title ‘Basic Instinct’.

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But not a good-bye to Ballroom
From Dance Today

Having started out in a part-time job as secretary of publicity for Blackpool Tower EMI, the company that is now run by

Leisure Parcs, Gillian MacKenzie took over as organiser of the Blackpool Dance Festival in 1981. After being the centre of

this most famous dance festival for 24 years, which attracts the world’s best dancers year after year she is saying her

goodbyes this year retiring. Her name, however, will go down in Ballroom history, which makes her proud.

Sylvia Boerner spoke to her about what is was like dedicatinga great part of her life to the Ballroom world and her plans for

the future.

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Strictly dancing: the final
From Dance Today

Strictly Dancing, the search for Australia’s ultimate dancing couple has come to a close. Sixteen episodes, 48 couples and

one winner. Adrian Sieb and Linda De Nicola took out the honours in a tough competition where at one stage, only 0.1 of a

point separated first, second and third place. Over 1,000,000 Australian viewers tuned in each week to see couples from

around the country compete in a variety of Jazz, Hip-Hop, Street Latin and Latin American disciplines. The programme, aired

on ABC TV, showcased some of Australia’s hottest dancers and attracted a huge number of newcomers to the sport. Angela

Gilltrap has the round-up.

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