You don't need the Thigh Master after you've done the Cha Cha," booms instructor Peter Collins.
Collins is switching dance gears. On a Tuesday night in a multi-purpose room in Slaughter Gymnasium, the Fox Trot dancers gather their shoes, practice a few steps they just learned and grab a drink of water after their lesson. As they trickle out of the room, a handful of anxious Cha Cha-ers filter in. Soon, 17 girls and nine guys are ready to dance.
The dancers are in a bronze-level class -- one step up from the beginners in the social class, one or two below the more experienced dancers in the silver and formation levels. The Ballroom Dance Club, a University Contracted Independent Organization, sponsors one class per week for each level, allowing 130 members to practice their "New Yorker" and "hockey stick" steps throughout the week.
When fourth-year College student Melissa Kahn founded the club two years ago, she had just transferred from the University of California-San Diego, where she had been an avid ballroom dancer. Anywhere from 20 to 50 students gathered in the lounge of her dorm for lessons, which she taught with a friend.
Today, Collins, a professional dance instructor in Charlottesville, leads social, bronze and silver level classes. He teaches alongside Donna Arehart, the president of the local chapter of U.S. Amateur Ballroom Dancing Association. Collins and Arehart lead sessions on the Samba, Waltz, Cha Cha and Fox Trot. For $75 a semester, club members can get up to 10 hours a week of lessons.
At the Tuesday night Cha Cha lesson, each student pair tries to repeat their instructors' steps, shaking their hips and performing intricate turns. Not everyone has Collins and Arehart's lean dancer build. But if you listen to their laughter and the happy hum of conversation, you can tell everyone is having a good time.
To have fun, dancers don't have to come in couples -- in fact most people come to the lessons one by one. Collins begins the class by dividing the casually dressed group into two lines facing each other, and couples switch throughout the evening.
"Forward, two, three, cha cha cha," Collins calls into a headset microphone.
An expression of concentration settles on most everyone's face. They're trying to get the steps down, but they do it with a smile.
The students, ranging from first years to fourth years, have a variety of reasons for taking lessons -- whether they do it once or several times a week.
"I joined because a friend asked me to come with her and I just fell in love with it," said second-year College student Dustin French, who devotes three nights a week to the club. "It's good for showing off my skills at weddings and impressing people back at home."
First-year College student Sophie Doan shares French's passion.
"I wanted to do ballroom dancing because I thought it was elegant and classy and just to say 'I know how to ballroom dance!'" Doan said.
The alluring charm of whirling and twirling cinematic couples like Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers, or Jennifer Grey and Patrick Swayze, has long been a dance floor draw. First-year College student Amanda Bensey said she was inspired to join the Ballroom Dancing club by movies like Vanessa Williams's "Dance with Me" and the Australian hit "Strictly Ballroom."
In the dance club, dancing isn't strictly limited to classic ballroom overtures. At the Tuesday night lesson, Collins plays Pink's "Let's Get the Party Started." Surprised that you can cha cha cha to modern day pop music?
"That's one of the best things about Latin ballroom dancing -- you can dance with any pop song because the beat's in 4/4," Bensey said.
But if shaking your hips to a Latin beat isn't quite your style, the club also offers the traditional waltz and fox trot in both international and American styles.
Dance club members, however, show their moves in places besides the dance floor -- they also participate in a variety of competitions around the country.
Every month the dancers can take part in dancing contests in Charlottesville, sponsored by the Amateur Ballroom Dancing Association. The club also sends dancers to several collegiate competitions every year. Last month, nine club members participated in the Ohio Star Ball, which is the largest ballroom competition in North America and was televised on PBS.
At the competition, first-year College graduate student Ben Deissler and second-year Engineering student Katie Coons took home the National Collegiate Polka Champions title. One couple made it to the semi-finals in the newcomer level for American rumba. Two other pairs reached quarter-final status -- one for jive and one for Cha Cha rumba.
"It's absolutely thrilling to go to the Ohio Star Ball, even just the excitement of going there. There's something exciting about going on the dance floor with people from different places," Kahn said.
Kahn said University dancers are known for their enthusiastic banners and cheers at competitions. The competitions are a way for dancers to test themselves, but just like at home, the goal is to have fun, she said.
After the hour-long Cha Cha class, the music is left on as a few lingering pairs brush up their moves. Others grab bottles of water, chatting and laughing about the day's events, or when they are coming to practice next. The party's over -- until the next week when it will be time to learn the samba.
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