Some do it for the exercise, some to improve their posture and self-esteem. Some use it to build a social life, but the bottom line is this: dancing is fun.
Nobody knows that better than Tony Romeo. He's been dancing for years he won't say how many lest someone figure out how old he is and expect him to retire.
"I can still do it, so I keep on doing it," he chuckles, obviously enjoying what he calls a "tappercise" class as much as his students a handful of middle-age women with varying abilities.
"I just love to dance," says Laura Malloy of Poland, explaining why she decided to join the class, held at Romeo's studio in Boardman.
"It's fun and it's great exercise," adds another student, Pat Almasy of Columbiana.
Amy Cagliuso, who's taken private lessons with Romeo the past eight years, began studying dance when she was 4 and continued through college. As a young adult, she discovered she missed it and decided to pick up where she left off, studying tap, jazz and lyrical, which she describes as "a combination between ballet and jazz."
Romeo says lyrical is often used in musical comedy shows such as "Wicked."
The veteran teacher says he started tap when he was 4 and began performing in theaters and nightclubs around the country when he was 23. He's performed the opening act for such prominent entertainers as Frankie Laine and Pearl Bailey, appearing at some of the best-known clubs in the nation the Copa Club in Pittsburgh and the Palace Theatre in New York. "That's where I got started," Romeo says. He even auditioned for Paramount "at the tail end of the musical era" and continued to live what he calls "a gypsy's life," traveling around the country from show to show. When he wasn't on the road, Romeo practiced his art at Billy V. Erhardt's dance studio in Youngstown.
That was one of two well-known studios in Youngstown during that era, says Judy Conti Katsaras, founder of Judy Conti Dance Studios. She studied at the other: Fred Kotheimer Dance Studio.
Like Romeo, Conti also toured the country performing opening acts for the likes of Bobby Vinton and Minnie Pearl. After learning the fundamentals with Kotheimer, she started studying dance in New York with June Taylor who provided the dancers for The Jackie Gleason Show when Conti was in her early teens, then joined the company and spent her summers on the road.
Although she found it exciting, Conti says, "No. 1, I'm a teacher. I was always ready even when I was in high school at the end of the summer to get back to the students."
Conti began her career as an assistant dance teacher at Kotheimer's when she was 13 and became a full-fledged teacher a couple of years later. She opened her own studio in Boardman in 1961 when she was 21. Forty-six years later, she's preparing for her 47th recital and still loves what she does.
"I never say I'm going to work," she says enthusiastically. "I love what I do."
Romeo wasn't as eager to become a dance instructor. He liked performing and rebuffed the idea of instructing young dancers when Erhardt first suggested it. Then Erhardt pointed out that traveling the country to earn a living might not be as desirable a situation once Romeo married.
"I thought about it awhile," Romeo recalls, "and I decided to try it." The rest is history. "I tried it. I liked it and I've been doing it ever since."
He taught at Erhardt's studio five years before opening his own at Strouss Music Center on Wick Avenue in Youngstown. He moved to the Uptown in 1972 and to Boardman in 1990. Today, his students range in age from 4 to 70 and study everything from ballet and tap to jazz, ballroom, lyrical and hip-hop. "The big thing now is hip-hop for the young set," he says. " 'Dancing with the Stars' revived ballroom dancing."
Conti operates studios in Boardman, Austintown, Columbiana and Poland. Over the years, she's also had studios in Hubbard, Campbell, Liberty, Lowellville and Canfield.
Where to open or close a studio is primarily based on where her students live Conti says her studios serve between 500 and 600 students each year and whether she has teachers to fully staff each one.
"If I don't have a top-notch teacher, I'd rather close a studio than send someone who wasn't ready."
Classes for children run from September to June. There are no contracts and fees are paid by the month. Makeup classes are offered so no one ever pays for anything they don't receive, Conti says. Classes for adults vary and are often tailored to meet specific needs and interests. They may last six or eight weeks or the duration of the school year.
Conti Dance Studios offer a full range of classes: tap, jazz, ballet, acrobatic, hip-hop, ballroom even Pilates and Zumba, which she describes as a "high-energy aerobic-type" of activity that incorporates movements from Latin dances and music.
Most of her teachers are former students and every class has a teacher, an assistant teacher and classroom demonstrators. "I want to give these girls the same opportunities I was given," she explains. Many of her staff have been with her for years, some working full-time, others part-time as their schedules permit.
Mary Ann Ebert, owner of Meet Me on the Dance Floor, teaches ballroom dancing at Conti's studios in Austintown, Boardman and Poland.
Her students who sign up for private lessons usually have a specific goal: to prepare for a wedding she sees many brides and grooms and a growing number of brides and their fathers. Those who take group lessons are often looking to make new friends.
Pop culture has had a significant impact on the business of teaching dance. Everytime the new season of "Dancing with the Stars" debuts on primetime, Ebert reports, "My curiosity calls double and the business actually picks up by a third."
The television program has inspired younger people to take ballroom lessons. Lately, Ebert says, the age of her students "is all across the board. At one time the average age was 30 to 75, but now kids are coming in and it's dropped down a whole decade." Even high school students have taken her class. "Dancing with the Stars has helped tremendously," she says.
The most popular dances, Ebert adds, are the swing, cha-cha and fox trot although she also teaches the waltz, tango, two-step, mambo and merengue.
The popularity of dance TV has spurred interest at Ballet Western Reserve, too. "People think it's easy to dance because TV makes it look easy," observes Richard Dickinson, who joined the school and dance company as artistic director in September.
Ballet Western Reserve provides professional training in ballet, pointe, pas de deux, creative movement, pre-ballet, modern, jazz, hip-hop, Irish step, Pilates and yoga.
While some of Western Reserve's students are training for professional careers in dance, Dickenson says more are drawn to the school especially the adult students because they just love to dance, want to keep fit or want to improve other skills. "Some students study ballet because it [demands good posture and having good posture] will help them to improve their ballroom dancing," he explains.
"A lot of the younger students want to do hip-hop because it's a fun class and they see it on TV," he says. Parents register their children for the class because they want the kids to be happy, Dickinson elaborates; others enroll their children in dance classes because they want them to improve their posture, presence, self esteem or because they have dreams of becoming a professional dancer.
Ballet Western Reserve both school and company continues to grow with more young students joining after they see performances developed for school children, Dickinson continues. Among his goals are continuing to build the organization and to offer more scholarships, work spearheaded by Anita Lin who, until his appointment, had entire responsibility for the organization.
Copyright 2008 The Business Journal, Youngstown, Ohio.