Dancing At The Mall

By John W. Goodwin Jr. and published in the Youngstown Vindicator, Ohio

...Let it not be said that one can’t cut a rug on the tile floor of a shopping mall.

As if to prove that point, the Eastwood Mall concourse area between a jewelry store, pretzel shop and women’s apparel store was transformed into a dance arena Saturday.

The five-hour marathon of ballroom dancing in the mall was sponsored by the Youngstown-Warren Chapter 2015 of USA Dance as a part of National Ballroom Week. About 73 couples and groups came out to perform dances such as the waltz, foxtrot, quickstep, Viennese waltz, swing, cha-cha, rumba, mambo, salsa and hustle.

George Welch, vice president of USA Dance Youngstown-Warren, said the mall dancing event has been held annually for six years. He said one of the organization’s main goals is to bring ballroom dancing to the masses and a “stage” such as the mall is the perfect place to do that.

“To put on an event like this in an area with such a large public view is just wonderful,” he said. “One of the goals of USA Dance is to get ballroom dancing to be an Olympic sport.”

Welch noted that the group will hold a free dance at 5 p.m. today at the Orthodox Center on North Belle Vista Avenue in Youngstown. He said the mall dancing exhibition usually garners a lot of interest from people who ultimately show up at the free dance.

“We try to coordinate the free dance with this [mall] event because the free dance is usually our biggest dance of the year,” he said. “The two events just remind people that if they want to come out and enjoy something like this, they can. We hope to pique their interest.”

Coming out and watching the dancers take the floor can make spectators take action — at least that was what happened to Cheryl Widomski and Dean Wellendorf of Canfield.

“We have only been dancing ballroom style a little over a year,” said Widomski. “We watched our current instructor out on the dance floor at Avon Oaks and decided that we wanted to dance just like that.”

The couple performed several dances Saturday and dance every Friday at the Avon Oaks Ballroom. Wellendorf said ballroom dancing has proved to be the right step for a couple looking for quality time.

“It’s relaxing and at the same time challenging. It is one of the best things you can do for a relationship. You still get to argue but in a good way,” he said.

Some participating in the dance exhibition have been ballroom dancing a little longer than a few years.

Dustin Jones, owner of Fred Astaire dance studio in Boardman, has been dancing since he was 5 years old and teaching for the last 10 years. He performed 14 dances Saturday and said the thrill for him is in making those watching smile.

Carol Ann Miller, 20, of Poland has been dancing since she was 6 years old and performed three dances in the mall Saturday. She said everything on the dance floor is simply for the love of dance.

“I love this. It’s something I have always wanted to do. I wanted to turn pro and now I am an instructor and pro. I meet people and it’s exercise where you don’t even realize you are exercising,” she said.

Welch said the exercise component is one that any beginning dancer should remember and appreciate.

“All of us who are ballroom dancers believe that this is one of the best thing you can do yourself in terms of physical and mental exercise,” he said.