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Delmarva
Dance
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The Daily Times, January 12, 2006 Shall we dance? by Mary Bargion SALISBURY - For years Alice Hajjar didn't have a partner when she went out dancing, but she always managed to find one when the music started. "I've been dancing for 6 1/2 years and teaching for more than three," said Hajjar, who lives in Frederick, Md., and is 51. "Ballroom dancing shouldn't be limited to people with partners. In my classes, I rotate partners - you learn a lot more by dancing with other people." She teaches ballroom and other styles of dancing on the Western Shore and is coming to Salisbury in February and March to teach on the weekends at the Mid-Shore Family YMCA. Students will learn the traditional fox trot, waltz and Latin dances, as well as the "flow" of the dance floor. With the popularity of TV shows such as The Learning Channel's dance reality series, "Ballroom Boot Camp," and ABC-TV's "Dancing with the Stars," which pairs celebrities with professional dancers, ballroom dancing is again in the spot light. (Watch the program tonight on WMDT-TV Channel 47 at 8 p.m.). The popularity of last summer's "Dancing with the Stars" led to a winter series that debuted last Thursday. The night included Tatum O'Neal, hip-hop guru P. Miller (AKA Master P) and actor George Hamilton. Not everyone seeks the kind of professional glow that highlighted Hamilton's tan when he bravely cha-cha'ed his way through his routine wearing a white cut-away dinner jacket. (One of Hamilton's first summer jobs was dancing with the "blue-haired ladies" who took lessons at the Arthur Miller dance school in Palm Beach, Fla., USA Today reported recently.) Hajjar acknowledged the excitement of the aerobic, yet elegant moves that wow the TV home audiences but said most people don't aspire to such a glittering debut. "That's more 'show' kind of stuff. My students aren't going to end up on TV but dance in restaurants and clubs." Social dancing is a good skill to have. "in many social situations, it's almost essential to be able to dance well," said Hajjar. "It's a life-time social skill." Dancing with a partner in harmony with good music will help develop a positive attitude, said Hajjar, and dancing skills are a plus. The man must learn to lead and the woman to follow, a time-honored tradition, which Hajjar said is sometimes hard for women to accept. "They have to give up control on the dance floor," she laughed. "The man has to be the eyes for the woman because she is moving backwards. He has to learn control, that he can't navigate by backing her into a wall." Hajjar said she will have advanced tips ready for those experienced dancers who attend her beginner or intermediate classes, for example, how a couple frames their position with their arms, or the proper use of feet, whether to step out with the heel or the ball of the foot. Hajjar said she continues taking lessons with a coach in [Westminster and] Bethesda, Md. "The minute I say 'I know it all', is the minute I stop teaching," she said. |