Ballroom Dancing Lessons Provide Fun, Great Exercise
By Eric Fish

Lee May and Alice Huang (far right) display the proper posture for the Tango as participants watch. Mr. May hosts free ballroom dancing classes every Wednesday during the summer from 8 p.m. to 10 p.m.

"Slow, slow, quick, quick, together."

These are among the commands from Lee May every Wednesday night as he hosts free ballroom dancing lessons on the first floor of Community Hall from 8 p.m. to 10 p.m. The lessons, which began in May and conclude around Labor Day, teach about eight of the 16 ballroom dances. Mr. May teaches it with the help of Alice Huang, who just finished her first year on the University of Michigan Ballroom Dancing Team.

After taking ballroom dance lessons from a friend in 2003, Mr. May joined the Ballroom Dance Team and danced competitively for about three years. Now back on Mackinac Island, he decided to channel some of his free time and his hobby into teaching.

"I just like to do it for fun," he said. "This is a great place, a great opportunity."

The lessons, he added, are also good preparation for dancing at Grand Hotel to their live orchestra.

The lessons are open to anyone, from novice to expert, and don't require a dance partner. Mr. May teaches a different dance each hour, taking participants slowly through the basics steps, then adding music, a quicker pace, and a dance partner. Along the way, he will instruct the dancers about proper posture and technique to aid them in their rhythm.

"The main thing about dancing is you have a lot of fun and it"s great exercise," he said. "Those are the top two things about ballroom dancing. And the third thing, actually, is you make a lot of new friends."

Class attendance varies, but it is typical to have five to 10 people show up, including several regulars. He notes that dancing is becoming increasingly popular owing, in part, to fashionable television shows like Dancing with the Stars.

"It's becoming a big phenomenon around the U.S." he said. "Dancing studios are getting a lot more people coming in. It's being advertised more, which is great."

Throughout the course of the summer, Mr. May plans to teach the waltz, fox trot, tango, quickstep, rumba, cha-cha, samba, and jive. He said he also plans on teaching fun dances like the salsa and hustle.

"It's always good to use for any situation, wherever you are," he said, including weddings. "And when you say, 'I know how to ballroom dance,' people are pretty impressed."