Dancing like the stars

But of course you don't have to go to a gym to kick up your heels and boogie down. Classes are available across the country at dance studios and community colleges and centers, and they're filling up, says Ken Richards, a spokesperson for USA Dance, a ballroom dance organization in Cape Coral, Fla.

While there are no solid statistics of how many people are taking dance classes recreationally, he says, it appears to be "extremely popular as a social activity."

Becoming 'cool'
Richards agrees the TV shows are fueling interest, along with movies like "Shall We Dance?" and "Chicago" that glamorize formal dancing and "make it cool."

Men, in particular, have been loath to reveal their secret passions for the dance floor. But "it's becoming OK as water cooler conversation," Richards says. "It's becoming its time."

Richard Gere, who starred in both of these movies, is helping to pave the way, he says, and in earlier years, John Travolta in "Saturday Night Fever" and "Pulp Fiction" and Patrick Swayze in "Dirty Dancing" helped break down some of the barriers to recreational dance.

Ballroom dancing is particularly popular among aging baby boomers who didn't grow up with many opportunities for formal dancing, says Richards. Typically, their dancing history consisted of freestyle moves "with a beer in one hand and a cigarette in the other," he says. Now, however, they find themselves at charity balls, cruises and other settings where ballroom dancing takes place and they want to learn about it so they sign up for classes.

Among the most popular classes are swing, tango and salsa, he says. And instructors who used to offer just packaged classes with a mix of dances — often swing, rumba, waltz and foxtrot — have responded to participants who just want to focus on one type of dance.

The benefits of dance are emotional and physical, says Richards. Dancing can be a great social activity but it also helps improve balance and stamina and burn calories. Actor John O'Hurley, one of the dancers in "Dancing with the Stars," said he lost 20 pounds on the dance floor.

"It's a lot more fun than a treadmill," Richards says.

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