DaytonDailyNews.com

DAYTON — While the popularity of "Dancing With the Stars" may fade, the Dayton Ballroom Dance Club plans to keep step, as it has for more than four decades.

For 47 years, the dance club has offered instruction for those who want to learn the tango and foxtrot.

The club recently celebrated the occasion with an anniversary ball on April 19 at the Silver Ballroom at Hara Arena in Trotwood.

The club offers four levels of dance instruction, said club president Andrea Miner.

The club was founded in 1961, when Clancy Burroughs advertised an introductory class, and about 90 people showed to learn ballroom dancing at the ballroom of the Beckel Hotel. The club formed gradually, and although it has changed locations through the years, it has continued to draw people interested in learning ballroom dance.

Last year, the club moved to Hara from Antioch Shrine Temple in downtown Dayton.

Miner said the club's numbers have grown in the last year. Typically, 90 people show up for dancing on Mondays, when instruction is held, she said.

Miner said it's unclear whether "Dancing With the Stars" has caused a rise in new dancers. Members of the club also have been out more dancing in public venues, such as the Schuster Center and the Victoria Theater. On April 26, dancers from the Dayton Ballroom Dance Club performed at One Lincoln Park in Kettering during a reception.

And although "Dancing With the Stars" may be making people more aware of ballroom dance, it also gives some newcomers a false sense of the skill and commitment it takes to learn to dance, Miner said.

Celebrities on the show learn a new dance, sometimes each week. However, they are working eight or more hours a day and during show interviews, the competitors often describe how much time and effort they put into learning the dances.

Sometimes new dancers show up for lessons and their "standards are a little high," Miner said. "They think they're going to be able to dance like that."

Miner said once people begin dancing with the club and moving up, they tend to stay with it.

"Our instructors have been with us for so long, it shows the structure and the stability (of the club)," Miner said.

"We have fun," Miner said. "It's just a really nice group."

For more information on the Dayton Ballroom Dance Club, go to www.daytonballroom.org.

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