Columbus, Ohio USA
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Short North Ballroom
You're dancing!
By Karen Edwards
January/February 2014 Issue

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The perfect partner
For Newman, that love for ballroom dancing became a passion. While he continued to teach, he began to enter competitive ballroom dancing with a partner. In ballroom, of course, your partner is everything – and that’s especially true in competition. You must not only be matched well in technical prowess, but you have to share a similar work ethic and, of course, you should be matched physically so you look like a couple that belongs together on the dance floor.

“I always say it’s harder to find a dance partner than it is someone to marry,” Newman says with a laugh.

And the perfect dance partnership is a relationship that, like marriage, occasionally demands a level of sacrifice, at least, geographically. That explains why Newman at one point left Ohio. “I moved to be closer to my dance partner,” he says.

Newman has had a few partners over the years. “In the last 10 years, I’ve moved around a lot,” he says. Chicago, Minneapolis, and Michigan have all been home to him at one time in his life – all in pursuit of the perfect dance partner.

Recently, however, Newman has stepped away from competition and the geographic waltzing to focus on teaching. He moved to the Midwest, and specifically Ohio, for several reasons: A close friend of his lived in the area; it was close to Kentucky, where his family still lives; and finally, the Midwest and Ohio are ideally suited for Newman’s second passion, gardening. Newman’s friend owns land near London, Ohio, and Newman currently leases some of it so he can grow his own organic, sustainable produce. He will begin planting in March – strawberries, raspberries, herbs and vegetables, and he hopes to plant some fruit and nut trees on the property as well. All will be grown organically. Eventually, he hopes the farm will sponsor educational programs so that children can be taught the importance of the environment and sustainable agriculture.

But Newman doesn’t want to let gardening take over his dancing. He balances the two. After all, it wasn’t just the ability to farm that drove him to Ohio. The state is centrally located in the U.S., which means he can easily reach competitions when he wants. Now, though, if he enters competition, his partner is usually a student, and the competitions are the Pro-Am (professional-amateur) dance contests held across the country.

When Newman decided to open a dance studio, he knew it would be in the Short North. “This is a popular area and it draws people from all over,” he says. It’s also an arts district – but one that lacked a dance studio. The Short North needed some place where people could learn to dance and put those lessons to practical use.

The Short North Ballroom opened in May, and shortly after friend and fellow dancer Stacy Coil joined Newman as a partner in the business. Since then, their studio has become another Short North success story.

Salsa nights

(Left) Todd Smith, aka The Salsa Guy, with Michael-Paul Newman. Photo © Erica Woodrum

“It has one of the most beautiful dance floors in the city,” says Todd Smith. And Smith should know. He’s “The Salsa Guy,” a dancer-choreographer who hosts the Lincoln Street Saturday Salsa parties at the Short North studio.

Smith started his own dance journey as an adult looking for a cardio-fitness exercise that would keep him motivated. He’d been to the gym and had worked on different machines, but nothing was catching his interest. “I needed something that was more social,” he says. He tried ballroom dancing – and hasn’t stopped. “I could go for three, four, five hours at a time and not realize I was exercising,” he says.

From the beginning, Smith has been drawn to the Latin modern dances – the salsa bachata (his favorite) and merengue. “The merengue is the easiest to learn. It’s done to a count of two,” he says.

Smith, along with instructor Carlos Rubio, teaches salsa and other Latin dances at the group lessons that run from 9 to 10 p.m. on Saturdays. If you’ve never danced salsa, or any dance in your life, no problem, says Smith. “All levels are welcome.” And singles, by the way, are as welcome as couples. After lessons, the night swings into the dance party itself. DJ Bloo keeps the music playing – that contagious Latin beat that draws about 100 to 200 people a week onto the Short North Ballroom’s dance floor.

“It’s a lot of fun,” says Smith. “It’s a friendly environment and you see people there that represent every corner of the world.”

“There are Europeans, Eastern Europeans, Indians, African-Americans, Caucasians. It’s a true international environment, but the salsa is a multi-cultural dance,” says Yasmin Lleveda.

The ballroom dances
If you’re a single guy who’d like a private dance lesson, Lleveda is most likely the dance instructor you’ll be matched with. If you are, just know you’re in extremely capable hands.

Lleveda has been dancing from the age of six, and she has a fine arts degree in dance from the Ailey/Fordham University dance program. She has danced as a company member of the Alvin Ailey Dance Theatre, has been a principal dancer for Dream Theatre Productions, “Tango Sin Alma” as well as for the Flamenco Puro Dance Company and the Tauntcaiste Company. Oh yes, she has won awards for choreography and ballroom competitions in salsa and American rhythm dancing – and have we mentioned her television appearances as a featured dancer in shows like Burn Notice, The Glades and The Fernando Show?

No need to feel intimidated, though, guys. Lleveda is happy to share her passion with others, and thinks dance is meant to be an inclusive activity.

“Dance is a great way to meet people,” she says. And becoming a part of the Saturday Salsa parties is like joining a family, she adds, one that’s supportive, not critical.

Lleveda teaches all forms of ballroom dancing and loves it all – from rhythm dances, like the cha-cha and rumba, to the waltz. If pressed, however, she’ll tell you her favorite dance is swing – and that salsa may be one of the harder dances to teach. That’s not because it’s complicated or a difficult dance to learn, she says. It’s a dance that was born in nightclubs, made up on the spot by dancers there, then given different twists as it spun its way around the globe. You can go to YouTube, says Lleveda, and see the different salsa variations that are out there.

In other words, salsa has no formal guidelines the way most ballroom dances do, so while instructors may find it more challenging to teach, it’s one of the most forgiving dances to learn. Since there are no rules, you can make a misstep and simply claim it’s a new innovation. It also means there are no rigid postures to maintain. It’s just a relaxed dance form, which is why it’s so popular, and a great place to start if you’re a beginner.

Learning to dance
Sandy Aldinger has not been to a salsa night, at least not yet, but at 76 years, she wouldn’t dream of missing any of the classes she takes from Newman three times a week. “It’s just so much fun,” she says.

Aldinger says she has always enjoyed dancing and was in ballet for years. “But I was a teenager when I started, and that’s really too late for ballet.”

She didn’t actually dip her toes into the world of ballroom dancing until 10 years ago when, like Newman’s sister, Aldinger’s daughter recognized the spark that had been smoldering in her mother for years and told her about a sign she had seen for dance lessons at a reduced rate. “You should sign up,” her daughter told her. So Aldinger did – and hasn’t stopped dancing since.

She caught up with Newman four years ago at another dance studio and followed him to the Short North. “I saw him perform before I started lessons with him and thought he was amazing,” Aldinger says. As an instructor, she calls him “the complete package.” “He’s wonderful at teaching technique, but he also relates to the students. Not every instructor does that.”

She also calls Newman her favorite dance partner and has competed with him in several Pro-Am dance events. Of course, to look at the pair, it might be difficult to think of it as the perfect competition match-up. “I’m only five-feet one,” she says. “Michael is over six feet.” Such height differences could present a problem, she continues, but it doesn’t. “Now, I’m so used to his height, that when I dance with a shorter man, it feels unusual.”

Two left feet: myth
But it also exemplifies why there is simply no reason not to step on the dance floor yourself and give it a try.

“You may think you have two left feet,” says Aldinger, but if you have a sense of rhythm, you can dance. “The instructor will bring it out of you.”

Smith says that Michael is very good at breaking the steps down so it’s easy for a beginner to pick up.

That’s as it should be, says Lleveda “It’s really up to the instructor to communicate in such a way that students get it. Michael does that.”

As for Newman, he refuses to believe in the myth of two left feet. “If you like music, you can learn to dance,” he says. “It’s a skill that can be learned. Anyone, at any age, can become a social dancer.”

There are different levels of dancing. You may never want to move beyond the hobbyist range of social dancing – that is, a certain competence level on the dance floor at weddings, special occasions or Salsa Nights. Or you might want to take it up to the performance or competitive level.

“Competition is exciting,” says Newman. It’s about dressing up, stepping into the limelight with all eyes on you and your partner, and enjoying the experience. “Competition isn’t about winning and losing,” he continues. “It’s about having that experience.”

“People have fears about dancing, but they shouldn’t,” says Lleveda. “They should try it. It will change them.”

For Aldinger, it’s the music, the movement, the euphoric feeling that you’re floating on air that brings her back time after time. “It’s like yoga – it puts you in another place and time. I forget all about the worries of the day.”

Newman has gone out of his way to make it easy for you to give ballroom dancing a try. “I’ve kept rates low [group classes are $10, private lessons are reasonable], and we’re LGBT-friendly,” he says. He plans to offer LGBT dance classes in the future.

He hopes if you take a lesson, you’ll think, “Wow, that was fun.” And he hopes you’ll come back and dance again and again.

Aldinger is ready. She wants to learn the quick step. She may even make it to a salsa night.

After all, there’s that irresistible, infectious music swirling out of the Short North Ballroom on any given Saturday night. That rhythmic salsa beat that catches you, perhaps unaware, but which teases and tugs, cajoles and coaxes until you’re in the studio, stepping and turning, swinging your partner, swaying your hips ever so gently. “It’s a magical experience,” says Newman.

You’re dancing.


For more information about the Short North Ballroom or Lincoln Street Salsa Saturdays, visit www.shortnorthdance.com

© 2013 Short North Gazette, Columbus, Ohio. All rights reserved.

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