Ballroom Dancing in Utica

One thing that we've been missing when we spend our summers in Kayuta is ballroom dancing.  Not that we're good dancers, we just love it.  Gives us a chance to socialize, practice and learn new dance moves, exercise.  My husband says it's the only time that I follow his lead without question- at least most of the time.

Last Saturday, we were finally able to attend a social dance hosted by the Mohawk Valley USA Dance Chapter #3066 at the Utica Maennerchor. As soon as we entered, we were warmly welcomed by organizer Tom Chin and soon after by Patti Lewis who was behind the lovely decorations centered on the "June Weddings" motif and also the MC of the night's activities.  Geno Aureli, owner of All for the Love of Dancing in Syracuse was already more than halfway through his bolero dance lesson so we could only watch and regret coming late to the dance. 

As soon as the lesson was over, open dancing started.  We had a wide berth on the dance floor since there were only about 2 dozen people present.  With lovely music played by DJ Joe Carino, we danced the cha-cha, rumba, hustle, swing, tango, waltz, foxtrot, merengue. We had to sit out the argentine tango which we still have to learn but got to do some dance walking near the end which everybody participated in.

Everybody we met there was very friendly.  We even got the scoop on other dances around the county.  We're looking forward to joining this group again at one of their monthly dances and checking out the other dance venues.

Some attendees of the June 27 dance.