Ballroom

THE ROLAND PARK Second Presbyterian Church looked absolutely stunning last Saturday for the wedding of Natalia Pia Melanie Sommer and Richard Matthew Dohler. Thousands of wildflowers, miles of lace ribbons and tulle, and window sills decorated with Singapore orchids set the stage for the nuptials of the daughter of pop music star Donna Summer and her first husband, Helmut Sommer,and the son of Dick and Bonna Dohler, he's an Ellicott City builder.The church was filled with the music of German trumpeteer Langston Fitzgerald and selections of Bach, Beethoven and Vivaldi, played by the church's music director Margaret Budd on the organ.

Competing in Hunt Valley, SwingTime Ballroom placed at the top with its dancers at the 2011 Atlantic Dancesport Challenge. Studio owner and instructor Scott Layfield took amateur student Barbara Ziegler, of Bel Air, to victory in the American Smooth Closed Bronze 3-Dance Challenge. Professional Vladimir Skrylnikov and amateur partner Gina Kazimir, of Bel Air, also won a championship with their victory in the American Smooth Closed Bronze 3-Dance Scholarship, after taking top honors in Waltz, Tango and Foxtrot as well.

We're at the finale already (didn't this season seem short?). I'll say it right here at the top of the episode - unless William falls repeatedly on his keister, requiring the judges to give him 5's across the board, there's no way he's not winning this thing. That being said, I'd be OK with any of the three finalists winning, even though I'm personally Team Driver. Tonight's show will have each couple dancing two dances:  1. Judge's pick, which are new routines danced to new music, but in a style the couple has previously danced and in which the judges would like to see them improve.  2. Freestyle Tomorrow night, the couples will be doing some sort of third scored dance, details about which we'll learn later.

With just five weeks until wedding bells ring, there are seating charts to be made, flowers to be ordered and playlists to be finalized. But Bri Fletcher and Matt Terry put all that aside to spend their Friday evenings following the directions “slow, slow, quick-quick” over and over ... and over. They, like a growing number of couples, want their first dance as husband and wife to rise above the hug and sway. They want a dance floor debut that sparkles (not to mention twirls, turns and dips)

Beyond the throng of sequin-covered dancers sashaying to the floor, Allison Dennis stood nervously in her modest-by-comparison flouncy polka dot miniskirt, eager for her group to be called. It was, after all, only her second dance competition. But like so many relative newcomers to ballroom dancing, what she lacked in experience she made up in attitude. "It's exciting, it's exhilarating, it's exhausting," said Dennis, breathless, as she strutted off the dance floor with her partner, Robert Granville; both are sophomores at the University of Maryland, College Park.

Four men were stabbed early Saturday morning inside a city nightclub, and one has died of his injuries, police said. Baltimore police responded at 1 a.m. to the Bourbon Street club in the 300 block of Guilford Avenue to find four men stabbed inside the club, according to spokesman Detective Jeremy Silbert. One of the victims, a 24-year-old man, died from his injuries, Silbert said. The three other victims were transported to local hospitals and are expected to survive, he said.

It starts with a prompt from the ballroom dancing instructor, and the kids, arm in arm and elbows up, miraculously transform into elegant fox-trotters. The middle school students at Crossroads School are part of a program based on Mad Hot Ballroom, a documentary about dancing teams at New York City schools. The school in Fells Point takes kids from impoverished neighborhoods in East Baltimore and helps turn their academic performances around.

On December 9, 2009, Della Marie Walker. On December 19 memorial service Kingdom Hall, 4006 Ridgewood Avenue 1:00 P.M. Repass Brittany Apts. Ballroom, 4 Deauville Court, Pikesville 2:30 P.M. Inquiries to 410-462-5372.

In the brightly lit Atlantic Ballroom in Towson, Igor and Polina Pilipenchuk practice their dance moves. They glide gracefully across polished hardwood, shoes tapping and hips swiveling. In June, the Towson residents are going to Tokyo to represent the United States in the World Professional Ten Dance Championships. Last month, the Belarus natives won the National Dancesport Title in Asheville, N.C., establishing themselves as the top ballroom-dancing couple in the United States. In June, they could very well be named the world's best.

Dancing With the Stars is gone for the season, but if you still have a jones to watch people move, check out Fox's So You Think You Can Dance. The show bills itself as the search for "America's favorite dancer" and tests dancers in a variety of styles and with different partners. A ballroom dancer who makes it to the finals might be paired with a hip-hop dancer and assigned to perform a lyrical routine on any given week -- it makes for entertaining viewing. The audition process is still going on, but now the performers are all semifinalists, so the show is past the humiliating-people part.

Four men were stabbed early Saturday morning inside a city nightclub, and one has died of his injuries, police said. Baltimore police responded at 1 a.m. to the Bourbon Street club in the 300 block of Guilford Avenue to find four men stabbed inside the club, according to spokesman Detective Jeremy Silbert. One of the victims, a 24-year-old man, died from his injuries, Silbert said. The three other victims were transported to local hospitals and are expected to survive, he said.

T he annual holiday brunch is always a festive get-together for members and supporters of 100 Black Men of Maryland. But this year, comfort and joy seemed to take on an extra dimension. "This seems like one of the biggest crowds we've ever had," noted president Ray Lucas, as he and event chairman Guy Bragg watched hundreds of people stream into the Martin's West ballroom. "In this kind of economy, this just gives me goose bumps," Lucas added. Members Almie McIntyre Jr. and Mel Bates stood inside the ballroom door, greeting guests.

On December 9, 2009, Della Marie Walker. On December 19 memorial service Kingdom Hall, 4006 Ridgewood Avenue 1:00 P.M. Repass Brittany Apts. Ballroom, 4 Deauville Court, Pikesville 2:30 P.M. Inquiries to 410-462-5372.

Beyond the throng of sequin-covered dancers sashaying to the floor, Allison Dennis stood nervously in her modest-by-comparison flouncy polka dot miniskirt, eager for her group to be called. It was, after all, only her second dance competition. But like so many relative newcomers to ballroom dancing, what she lacked in experience she made up in attitude. "It's exciting, it's exhilarating, it's exhausting," said Dennis, breathless, as she strutted off the dance floor with her partner, Robert Granville; both are sophomores at the University of Maryland, College Park.

As usual, Carrie Ann Inaba doesn't mince words. Fans of the reality show Dancing with the Stars, on which the frank and engaging choreographer is one of three judges, might think the show demonstrates ballroom dancing at its best. But Inaba says anyone wanting to see the genuine deal should head to the national ballroom dancing championships this weekend at the Renaissance Harborplace Hotel. "TV has a tendency to dumb down and simplify," says Inaba, who will be an honorary judge of the competition.

The schmaltzy strains of "Moon River" flow from the speakers as couples start to waltz in a studio in Santa Monica, Calif. Under a mirrored ball, they glide across the hardwood floor with perfect posture, silently mouthing the rhythm: one, two, three; one, two, three. The scene's different over the hill in Los Angeles' San Fernando Valley. Twenty women, mostly clad in black workout pants and sneakers, sweat profusely to a spirited jive step as "Proud Mary" blasts and their teacher screams, "I need attitude!"

With poise and grace, high school girls in flowing white gowns curtsied and waltzed last night in a ballroom at the Hyatt Regency Hotel, dazzling an audience of more than 700 people at the Youth Cotillion."

T he annual holiday brunch is always a festive get-together for members and supporters of 100 Black Men of Maryland. But this year, comfort and joy seemed to take on an extra dimension. "This seems like one of the biggest crowds we've ever had," noted president Ray Lucas, as he and event chairman Guy Bragg watched hundreds of people stream into the Martin's West ballroom. "In this kind of economy, this just gives me goose bumps," Lucas added. Members Almie McIntyre Jr. and Mel Bates stood inside the ballroom door, greeting guests.

Moving from a suburban bookstore to a swanky ballroom, this year's Book Bash will feature nearly 50 authors, including historians, actors and writers of children's books. After more than 600 people attended last year at the Greetings and Readings in Hunt Valley, organizers moved tonight's event downtown to the Tremont Grand. This year, a bigger space, a jazz band and flutist, caterers and presentations by authors Chip Silverman and Michael Tucker (of L.A. Law fame) may mean an even larger turnout, said Caryn Sagal, the event's publicity chair.

The construction fences are beginning to come down around Cathedral Street's old Alcazar Ballroom as the Baltimore School for the Arts completes its renewal of this complex of Baltimore treasures. For months now, an adjoining Cathedral Street double-width brownstone has been architecturally knitted into the Alcazar. The old Alcazar possesses a curious social pedigree. The word Alcazar is Spanish for palace or fortress, based upon an Arab word.