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Michael Bronzini and his wife, Dolly, have taken home first, second, and
third place awards in local ballroom dancing competitions. In one national competition,
they were named outstanding amateurs.
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Engineer Takes to the Dance Floor and It's Strictly Ballroom
By Robin Herron
A telemarketer's phone call seven years ago led Michael Bronzini and his wife,
Dolly, into a new and consuming hobby: ballroom dancing.
Bronzini, the Sidney O. Dewberry Chair for Civil, Environmental, and Infrastructure
Engineering, says the offer of a free private dance lesson coincided with the
couple's becoming empty nesters, and dancing soon filled the void.
"We learned the basics within one hour," he says. "After that, we were hooked."
And, he says, the benefits are many. "It increased our self-confidence so that
we could dance in public, and it's wonderful recreation and exercise. It's also
good for marital harmony," Bronzini adds, "since after 10 minutes you can't stay
mad when you're dancing. You have to cooperate. When you're dancing you can't
think of anything else, you have to be focusing. It's a total escape."
Now, the couple visits a dance studio every week for lessons and social dancing.
"We have an automatic date every Friday night," he says. "We go for a lesson,
have dinner, then go to a social dance." Even after years of dancing, Bronzini
says, "you can always learn something new - more advanced techniques and extended
sequences of patterns."
According to Bronzini, there are about a half dozen national dance studio
chains, and all the chains follow similar programs. The key is to find an instructor
you like, he says. Dancers often stay with the same instructor for years.
"If you make reasonable progress, you discover that dance studios offer applications
for dance competitions. So, we tried competing and found we liked it," he says.
"My wife says it takes me back to my football days. It's like strapping on the
pads and putting on the helmet and getting out there to do battle."
The Bronzinis have brought home first, second, and third place awards. In
one national competition, they were named outstanding amateurs. The couple plans
on competing again in December. "It takes about six weeks of intense preparation
for a competition," Bronzini says. "With our jobs, we probably won't have time
to practice until then."
In ballroom dance competition, different competency levels are represented
by bronze, silver, and gold categories, and each category has four steps. In the
hierarchy of dance, the Bronzinis have reached the top of the bronze level and
are poised to move up to silver.
"With 10 hours of lessons, you can become a better dancer than 90 percent
of most people," Bronzini says. "At our level, we're in about the top 5 percent
of dancers, and the gold level dancers are in the top 1 or 2 percent."
Competition includes various dances that are classified as smooth or rhythm,
Bronzini explains. The smooth dances are the waltz, the foxtrot, and the tango.
The rhythm dances are the rumba, cha-cha, and swing. The Bronzinis favor the tango
as their smooth dance and the West Coast swing - a successor of the rock 'n roll
jitterbug - as their rhythm choice. "Achy Breaky Heart" is an example of West Coast
swing music, Bronzini says.
Ballroom dance has its clothes, of course, with different outfits required
depending on the type of dance and the occasion. Bronzini has three tuxedos, including
one with tails, and 5 pairs of dancing shoes in his closet, while his wife has
two dresses made especially for competitive dancing and 10 pairs of shoes.
Considering the weekly dance lessons, the clothing, and visiting various dance
venues, the cost of dancing and competing can add up. Bronzini says the hobby
costs about as much as belonging to a country club and playing golf. "This is
our golf," he says.
Bronzini notes that dance will be a demonstration sport for the first time
at the 2004 summer Olympics in Athens, Greece. "At the higher levels, it really
is a sport. You see some of the same speed that you do in ice dancing, for example.
Good dancers are really athletes."
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