"Dancing With The Stars" Changed Bristol Palin's Life

Pop Eater reports that Bristol Palin says she has left her Alaska home for good and that "Dancing With the Stars" was the catalyst.

"Bristol loves her mom and family, but it was time for her to start her own life with her son," writes Rob Shuter of Pop Eater, citing a friend of Palin's. "'Dancing With the Stars' changed her life. She had never left home before, and it gave her the confidence to know she can survive and finally step out of her mom's shadow."

Check out the entire story here.

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West Coast Dance Championships Results

Below are the award winners at this year's FADS West Coast Dance Championships.

Congratulations to all the award winners in this year’s event. Special thanks to everyone who helped organize this event and to all the attendees!

Top Amateur Couple
Maria and Tony Sanchez, Pasadena, CA

Top Newcomer Students
Male - David Harris, Portland, OR
Female - Erin Brown, West Hartford, CT

Top Bronze Students
Male - Wayne Lee, San Diego
Female - Linda Coughlin, New York East

Top Silver Student
Barbara Fry, Memphis East

Top Gold Student
Barbara Fry, Memphis East

Top Male Teachers
6th Place - Martin Raphael, Oceanside
5th Place - Olaf Pries, West Hartford
4th Place - Tim Bishop, Chandler
3rd Place - Benjamin Smith, Memphis East
2nd Place - Eguene Graev, New York East
1st Place - Ryan Lockhart, Oceanside

Top Female Teachers
2nd Place - Jessica Reynolds, Portland
1st Place - Dani Palmer, San Diego

Top Studio Runner-Up: San Diego
Top Studio: Oceanside

New FADS Franchise Opens in Greenfield, WI

This news was first announced in our online In Step newsletter, but I thought I'd get it out here for those who don't subscribe to it.

We have welcomed in yet another Fred Astaire Dance Studio franchise, in Greenfield, Wisconsin. Owners Richard and Vanina Soppa have been with Fred Astaire for several years, now, and decided to start their own "Fred Astaire Family," which opened this January 10.

Visit their website here (which is still being put together).

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Fred Astaire "Top 10 Dance Scenes"

Over at a website called Film Misery, blogger Alex Carlson has put together what he calls Fred Astaire's top 10 finest dancing scenes. He's listed them all along with accompanying YouTube videos.

Regardless of whether you agree with his selections, the videos are some of Fred's best moments in film.

Check out the post here.

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On New Year's Resolutions and Ballroom Dancing

The Upper Montclair FADS blog has a great post on New Year's resolutions that relate to ballroom dancing. Actually, the resolutions themselves are pretty general on their own, but the post follows up their listing with a more detailed analysis on why they are all, in fact, associated with the benefits of ballroom dance.

Read the Upper Montclair FADS post here.

Videos: 10th BDFI Malaysia Open DanceSport Championships

On January 9, 2011, the 10th BDFI Malaysia Open DanceSport Championship was held in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. Below is a video clip from the event along with a link below that to more videos.



Check out this link for more videos of the 10th BDFI Malaysia Open DanceSport Championships 2011.

Stamford, CT, First Lady to Start “Dancing Classrooms”

Stamford, CT, first lady Maureen Pavia is set to launch her version of Dancing Classrooms today (January 10th) after the project was initially announced last September.

Pavia, who, according to The Daily Stamford, is herself an accomplished ballroom dancer, is excited about the opportunity. She spent a week in New York last November training for her role in the program. "I'm thrilled, I'm absolutely thrilled,” she told The Daily.

Dancing Classrooms was created in 1994 as the educational component of New York's American Ballroom Theater Company, and is being run in Stamford as part of Pavia’s Stamford Gives Back Association, The Daily reports. The program was established with the goal of helping to improve children’s self-esteem, confidence and social connections.

Pavia will be teaching dance at Stamford’s Waterside School, while another dancer, Maribel Velasco, of Fairfield, will teach at the city’s Boys & Girls Club, The Daily reports. The lessons will include “basic ballroom dancing,” according to Pavia, including the tango, cha-cha, and merengue.

[Photo credit: Deb Failla]

Junior High School Students Show Their Steps

Competitive ballroom dancing isn’t just for studios and television, and in December students at Jefferson Jr. High School, in Woodridge, Illinois, took to the dance floor to compete in that school’s 6th annual Dance Finals Contest.

“During the four-week unit,” writes Woodridge Patch Editor Mellissa Tussing, “the students worked on the waltz, cha-cha, tango and swing and line dancing.

“Students competed during each gym class to be named first, second or third for each of the four ballroom dances. One couple was chosen from each class to go to the dance finals,” Tussing explained in her December 18, 2010 story.

More than 70 judges took part in the final balloting. The top three couples were all 8th-graders, Tussing reported, with students Amanda McCash and Scott DeLaby eventually taking first place.

McCash told the Woodridge Patch her favorite dance is the tango, which she found to be the “least awkward,” and that her favorite part of the competition was just being able to dance with other students. "It was really fun being with our friends and dancing," she told the Patch.

Ballroom Dancing is Child's Play

Keeping your kids occupied can be a chore sometimes. (Keeping them away from video games can be even harder!)

Over at the Stop Tantrums blog, writer "Matt" has a great idea to keep our bored children busy: Ballroom dancing.

"For those who have been searching for a new activity for your youthful child that is certainly as advantageous to them as it is fun, how about ballroom dance lessons?" Matt writes.

Matt lists several of the advantages of putting the kids through lessons, including exercise, building confidence and making friends.

Check out the post here.

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Eastern U.S. Dancesport Championships set for February in Boston

The Eastern United States Dancesport Championships are set for February 18-20, 2011, at the Renaissance Boston Waterfront Hotel. According to the event's website, they are expecting an estimated 3000-plus participants. The three day event will include "a variety of dance, clothing, food, sports equipment and health-related products and services."

For more information, check out their webpage, here.

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"Burn the Floor" Comes to Oklahoma City to Start 2011

The stage production "Burn the Floor" came to us long before there ever was a Dancing with the Stars or So You Think You Can Dance. Celebrity Attractions now brings the show to Oklahoma City to kick off 2011...

Celebrity Attractions kicks off 2011 with production of ‘Burn the Floor'