Waltzing With Tony...No Defeat In These Feet

Palm Beach Post Staff Writer, Leslie Gray Streeter, dances with Tony Dovolani during the Grand Opening of the West Palm Beach studio in Florida. Here is her article:

Leslie waltzes with Tony: No defeat in these feet
By LESLIE GRAY STREETER, Palm Beach Post Staff Writer
Thursday, July 03, 2008

"I haven't met the person I can't teach to dance," Tony Dovolani tells me.

"You haven't danced with me yet," I tell him.

When I set up my interview with the Dancing With The Stars hoofer, who was in town to promote the new West Palm Beach Fred Astaire Dance Studio, I agreed to a short dance lesson, because my job involves the sacrifice of my dignity for the amusement of the reading public. But inwardly, I was freaking out.

Choreographed dancing is way up there on my Monk-like list of fears, along with sinkholes, sharks and that mold that eats people's houses. I've always been uncoordinated, but I blame my terror of partner dancing on my 1988 debutante ball, where during the waltz, I tripped on the train of my own dress and could be seen literally hopping up and down like a lace-gloved Whack-A-Mole to avoid causing a collision with the other dancers. So Tony's confidence does little to deter my nerves, even as he leads me out onto the floor.

"I'm going to teach you the most successful step that's ever been discovered - the box step," he says, gently putting one hand on my back and beginning to count "One, two, three."

OK, that I can do. Tony tells me to look up at him, which takes a few seconds to feel comfortable, a.) because he's stunning, and b.) because looking at him reminded me that he was a internationally famous professional dancer and I am a marginally locally known person who enjoys watching other people dance while I eat.

And that, actually, is where everything gets better, because I remember that Tony is the professional, and the man, so he leads. Since he knows what he's doing, all I have to do is follow. I am a normally a bad follower, because I get too into my own head, forget to count, and because I have control issues.

"If you know what you are doing, you can lead," Tony smiles, and since we both know I don't, I just follow him. And even though I know this is a basic step, the fact that I do it without falling or hurting the famous person is progress.

"You have to know your ABC's before you can spell," he says, spinning me one more time. I feel pretty, witty, light and, maybe, ready for more dance lessons. But not around moldy sinkholes. One thing at a time.
Dance studios owe business boom to ABC's show 'Dancing With The Stars' didn't invent partner dancing, but it appears to have reignited interest in elegantly gliding across the floor in graceful sync.

'We've seen about a 30 percent increase' in people nationwide taking lessons, says Armando Martin, national director of the Fred Astaire Dance Studios. 'It's obviously very appealing, the movement in those beautiful dresses. You see celebrities who are not necessarily talented, but who, in weeks, are actually doing it. And they say "I can do that!" '

The ABC show was certainly on the minds of many of the more than 100 people who crowded into the Okeechobee Boulevard studio for the grand opening last Saturday to see series star Tony Dovolani and other professionals dance, and to try their hands and feet at everything from the tango to the Electric Slide.

'I'm a fan of the show, and after meeting him, I'm a fan of Tony's,' said Donna Weiss, one of several people (mostly female) waiting to get their photos taken with Dovolani. 'He's very humble and very gracious. And he's hot and sexy. Come on!'