Adventure Man: From Breakin' to Ballroom -- By Jadrian Klinger, Photography by Steve Catalano

Posted @ Nov. 30 2011 07:06AM by Timmy - in-print

It was the 80's. The year 1984, to be specific. Things were a bit different back then. Two years past a quarter century ago, Ronald Reagan won a second term in office, a little computer company called Apple unveiled the first Macintosh, Ghostbusters debuted on the big screen, a leather-coated David Hasselhoff and a mustachioed Tom Selleck battled for television ratings with Knight Rider and Magnum P.I., Michael Jackson ruled the top-40 charts, a movie ticket was $2.50 and a gallon of gas cost $1.10.

But, for me, none of those things mattered.
In 1984, at the ripe age of however old you are just before enrolling in kindergarten, I cared about only four things: playing wiffle-ball, throwing rocks into the neighbor’s yard in the hope of hearing them catch in their lawnmower, working towards a future career as Indiana Jones and break dancing. An odd combination, I know, but I’m pretty sure I was one of those “unique” children.

In addition to spawning Ghostbusters, as well as Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom, the fourth year of the ‘80s gave rise to not just one, but two films dedicated to the art of break dancing. They were aptly dubbed Breakin’ (which chronicled a young jazz dancer teaming up with two break dancers to become the sensation of street crowds) and Breakin’ 2: Electric Boogaloo (which followed the same three characters as they danced in front of bulldozers in order to save a community center from an evil land developer).

Inspired, I found myself taking break-dance lessons at the YMCA. For a kid, I progressed fast. Not only could I do a variety of spins on my knee, hand, back and head, but I also wore the latest in break-dancing fashion, which was a pair of many-zippered pants and a red shirt. It all culminated in a dance competition held in the parking lot of the local shopping center. And, while the details are still a little hazy, I think I won, or at least they told me I had because I was so young, and they probably didn’t want to make me cry.

Either way, in my mind, I had reached the pinnacle of the dancing world. There was nowhere left to go but downhill from there. My interest in break dancing waned, and eventually disappeared altogether. And for the next 27 years or so, with the exception of the occasional slow dance with a special lady, I pretty much shunned dancing. But, with a recent visit to Arthur Murray Dance Studio in Lemoyne, my long dancing drought came to an end.

With the help of Elaine Seckar, manager of Lemoyne’s Arthur Murray franchise, and dance instructor Justin Howard, I got my first-ever taste of ballroom dancing. Among a group of 10 to 15 male and female ballroom-dancing beginners, all far more agile than I could hope to be with my two left feet, I learned the Waltz Box Step as well as a bit of East Coast Single-Time Swing.

For those who are unfamiliar, Seckar explains the basics of these dances. “There are two different kinds of waltz; there’s Waltz and Viennese Waltz,” says the 24-year-old. “When you think of classic ballroom dancing, the waltz is usually one of the first that come to mind for people – the grace, the poise, the posture. It’s one of the more classic social dances.”

She continues, “Swing is one of the faster dances. I usually say that any song you hear that has a stronger acoustic riff to it is normally a swing. There’s East Coast and West Coast versions of swing. We usually start with single-time swing to get the feeling of the weight change and the rhythm of the music, and as you progress, we change the rhythm, getting a little bit faster. Then there is a lot of turning and trading places.”

Some of the other dances taught at Arthur Murray include the fox trot, rumba, cha cha, salsa, tango, samba and, of course, the many variations of waltz and swing.

Seckar, who earned a graduate degree from Bloomsburg University in exercise science with a focus on dance science, expertly led the entire group class through the basics of each dance, and we all attempted to mimic her practiced movements. Some students were more adept than others, but everyone was so focused on their own dancing that no one noticed my stiff, anti-rhythmic moves. The long-stifled dance skills that led me to break-dancing greatness all those years ago did not magically come forth (as I had secretly hoped). Instead, a realization surfaced: learning to ballroom dance was fun, and it didn’t really matter that I wasn’t any good at it.

Coming into it, I knew the adventure did not necessarily reside in the actual dancing portion of learning to dance, but rather in the opportunity to overcome the apprehension of not really knowing how to dance. But, as I watched the more advanced students perform the more technical dance moves in the main ballroom, I noticed that there was much more going on than merely conquering the fear of looking foolish in front of others. The young and not-so-young ones, the males, the females, the couples and the singles, they were all having a great time.

On the third floor of a building just off Main Street in Lemoyne, music played and dancers danced. They could have been anywhere at that moment, and it would have been exactly the same. As long as they were on the dance floor, blissfully lost in their movements, it was as if nothing else meant a thing for that short time.

Justin Howard, 11-year veteran dance instructor at Arthur Murray and husband to owner Lynn Reigle, knows well this side effect of dance. “To say we instruct people in dance, it’s a very generic way of putting it,” explains the 32-year-old. “But what we also do is change people. We have a single lady in here right now who’s been through a divorce, and she doesn’t have the confidence that she used to when she was younger. By coming here, she’s able to build some self esteem and get more comfortable with what she’s doing here. For couples, it’s improving their relationships, whether they’re good or bad. It gives them a chance to get together and bond by learning something together...And when you learn something that you’re both brand new at, and it’s awkward for both of you, and you’re seeing yourself at your weak points, it’s just a bonding thing...There’s nothing that I can think of that two people could go do together where they’re holding on to each other. Some people joke that it’s the only 45 minutes where they’re free to hold their wife...I think that’s what has really kept me here for a number of years. It’s seeing people change. It’s not always so much about their dancing. It’s a positive aspect for them, and some of the underlying things that dancing does for them.”

Gary Kitner, 60, of Shermans Dale has been dancing for more than a year. For him, dancing is about making friends. “The truth be told, there was a young woman that wanted to learn to dance, and I wanted to impress her. So, I signed up for dance classes. She quit, but I was hooked...Right now in my life, it’s the camaraderie and the people that enjoy doing this and getting together with them, developing friendships with people you never would have met otherwise.”

Cindy Strini, 51, has only been dancing for about two months, but she already enjoys the unexpected benefits of it. “There are days at work that just aggravate the heck out of me. And within two minutes of dancing, the next thing you know, all of the stress just disappears. It just makes your day better, and when you leave, you leave all the stuff that was bothering you behind because you’re humming a song, thinking over what you did.”

The Arthur Murray Dance Studios franchise has been around for nearly 100 years, and for more than 65 years in the Harrisburg area. The Lemoyne location opened in the early 1980s. The good people of Lemoyne’s Arthur Murray franchise are not just experts in the realm of teaching dance, but also in their ability to introduce the benefits of dancing to anyone and everyone.

“Regardless of who you are, where you’re coming from or what your physical ability is, everyone should be able to dance,” says Seckar. “Everyone should be able to experience the feeling of dancing. For me, learning to dance is about getting comfortable in your own skin and learning to be proud of that. The culmination of being comfortable in your own skin, feeling and hearing the music and feeling all of that with someone else is just amazing.”

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