Dancing with the Stars

Every year I tell myself I'm not going to watch Dancing with the Stars, and every year I end up watching it, due in most part to having been a ballroom dance instructor myself.

I taught ballroom dancing at the old Dance City, USA in Houston, Texas for quite a few years.  Dance City was the largest dance studio in the world with 64,000 square feet of studio space and other amenities.  There were over 125 teachers and there has never been a studio as large since 1964.

Corky and Cloris Leachma

The studio was owned by George Ballas whose son, Corky, has been on Dancing with the Stars for one or two seasons.  I think they dragged him on to dance with Cloris Leachman (what a nightmare for Corky.)   Mark Ballas, a regular on the show,  is Corky's son. 
Corky was just a little guy running around the studio when I was teaching there but was already dancing. 

George Ballas

Mark Ballas

We rarely saw George as he was always busy inventing things in his offices next door to the studio.   One day he called all of us in for a meeting because he had something to show us.  It was the prototype for the first Weed Eater that he had built.  He had just gotten a contract from the city of Houston for a bunch of these newfangled string trimmers. He asked us if we wanted to buy stock in his newest company.  Well sure, George.  So all the teachers at Dance City became the first stock holders of his new Weed Eater company. 


Another reason for watching this season is Jennifer Grey will be dancing .  Jennifer starred with the late Patrick Swayze in Dirty Dancing.  Patrick's mom, Patsy had a large dance studio in Houston at the same time I was dancing. She also was the founder and director of the highly acclaimed Houston Jazz-Ballet Company. Patrick was already a well known dancer and Patsy was revered by all of us dancers.  She was, and still is, a great lady.  We all mourned the death of Patrick, a great dancer and a lovely man.

While I am not a big fan of the skimpy outfits on Dancing with the Stars that detract from the dancing, I do admire the fine professional dancers on the show (many of whom were trained by Corky)

Beautiful form

Waltz postures

This is the only picture I have of myself dancing.  It's rather lousy because it's a picture of a picture.   The young man was my first dance partner, Larry.  Larry and I won the US competition dancing waltz and samba.

Dancing an exhibition quickstep at Dance City, USA to Deep in the Heart of Texas (hence the rhinestone cowboy hat)

It's a fairly small world sometimes...