Ballroom

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!"

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.

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.

Barbara Nicklas stepped out onto the balcony of the Spear Center and looked out over Lake Kittamaqundi. "This has got to be one of the best views in Howard County," she said, looking out over the trees and breathing in the summer air. Many longtime Howard countians have fond memories of stepping onto that balcony, drinks or appetizers in hand, during the countless weddings and other celebrations that took place in the Spear Center, a ballroom on the...

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.

The girl stormed off the dance floor, her body language the universal for "I'm outta here." Her partner was left standing alone, his shoulders shrugging in the universal for "What did I do?" Ah, the drama, the intrigue, the stomped toes. It's one of those ideas that seem like either pure genius or total insanity, and turn out to be a good bit of both: Take the mannered world of ballroom dancing, plant it in the hormonally fraught setting of the typical middle school. Moviegoers first saw the results of this odd coupling several years ago, in the hit documentary Mad Hot Ballroom, which followed several New York City schools as they fielded ballroom dancing teams to compete for the top prize.