BARBARA NORDBY Star-Tribune staff writer | Posted: Thursday, March 15, 2007 12:00 am
A crowd gathers at the doorway, people peering in: a girl in a volleyball uniform, a boy with a rock-and-roll haircut and a lip piercing, the high school principal, all wondering at the phenomenon unfolding after hours in the upper gymnasium at Kelly Walsh High School.
Teens are dancing, as couples, and they appear to be enjoying it.
Some girls concentrate hard on the steps, watching their feet. Others giggle at their false starts, and begin again on the downbeat.
Some boys move right in time, shoulders firm and steady, guiding their partners, while others stumble to some internal rhythm.
Stephanie Clark, a senior who's at the school tonight for a band concert, looks in and says she wishes "really badly" she could be out there dancing, but she has to get back to the concert.
She explains her school is offering the series of six evening dance classes to prepare teens for prom.
Students don't know traditional ballroom dances like the tango and waltz, Latin steps like the samba and cha cha, or even social dances like swing or salsa because the steps aren't required, not taught, not part of their social lives, she says.
So at school dances, "They're just dirty dancing - nobody really knows how."
Jason Foery and his wife, Susan, a teacher at Kelly Walsh, dance alongside the kids, to support the effort.
"A lot of schools across the country are getting rid of prom," Susan Foery says. Lewd dancing makes chaperones uneasy and begging students to shape up doesn't always work.
"We'd like to hang onto ours," Foery says.
So the school asked dance instructor Machelle Holloway to teach the kids a few moves they and their parents can all agree on. She'll teach the classes at Kelly Walsh on the next five Tuesdays, before the kids go off to their prom April 21.
A group of about 20 students loved the idea and said they expect more kids will turn out each week for the class.
Halfway through the night, a little out of breath from the quick steps, hair tousled by the wind from the gym's industrial fan, the young men and women are not worried about the right corsage or the perfect dress.
Kristin McGuire, who picks up the moves easily with her natural sense of rhythm, says, "Seriously, at prom, we are going to be the coolest kids ever."
Holloway reaches into her thick black book of CDs and pops a mix into her giant boombox.
"Now, this is not a song you might recognize," she says.
Out come the Four Seasons with "Big Girls Don't Cry."
No response from the dancers.
They don't cry yi yi….
Later, when she switches the music to some Shakira, they say, "Oh, yeah."
Holloway demonstrates each step of the mambo, first for the boys, then the girls, and then they all take it slow together, then fast to the music.
It's not easy the first time. Holloway tells them there are no mistakes in dancing - only variations.
"I suck at this. I always forget the frickin' pause," Lana Christensen says.
"Don't be so hard on yourself," Holloway reassures her. "You guys are awesome."
"Well, I'm making a ton of variations," Lana says.
But throughout the night, they make progress.
Justin Meidinger gets a quick private lesson from Holloway's assistant instructor.
Kristin, his partner, is impressed with the improvement: "He's got skills!"
She thinks all the new techniques are a big step up from what she normally sees at school dances.
"I like to call it the pit," she says. "It's just like seriously, everyone sitting there, doing the same movement over and over again - I don't like it."
"It's just hips to hips," Meidinger says, "a whole bunch of people rubbing up against each other."
When they and the other couples dance, face to face, holding hands, it seems more intimate than the awkward grinding that usually passes for dancing. Holloway tells them dancing is supposed to be romantic, as well as social, fun and good exercise.
Holloway is teaching them how to dance, but there are other lessons, too.
"Guess what guys - you have to be the boss, but that's only on the dance floor."
She tells the girls, "Don't lead, the guys have to understand what that means."
She sprinkles advice throughout the evening: "You always step towards your partner," and "Look at your partner with a smile."
Meidinger, a football player, says this is the first time he's ever taken a dance lesson or really danced like this, "Unless you count dancing with your grandma at weddings."
At the end of the night, he feels pretty confident he's ready to swing at prom, though the salsa will take more practice. "I'll be back next week."
Reach Barbara Nordby at (307) 266-0633 or at barbara.nordby@casperstartribune.net.