Balboa dancing requires participants to be quick on their toes.

Balboa, Rediscovered

To learn how to dance, it's best to start by mimicking the professionals. Want to ballroom dance? Grab an old movie with Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers. Want to learn how to dirty dance? Hello, Patrick Swayze. But what if you want to learn how to dance Balboa - the swing relative that's the latest craze? You'll need to observe the dance moves practiced by . . . Popeye and Olive Oil.

Balboa champs Kelly Aresenault and Mickey Fortansce.

"It's less about the look and more about the feel of the dance," says Kelly Aresnault.

"When Popeye and Olive Oil danced, their torsos didn't move but their legs went crazy. They were dancing Balboa," says Paolo Lanna, 40, an instructor at New York's Dance Manhattan Dance Studio and an expert in early jazz dances like Balboa, which developed in California's Balboa Peninsula in the 1920s and 30s. At the time, the southern California dance pavilions were so crowded that movement was restricted, which led to the development of Balboa, a dance that's more contained than the jitterbug and other forms of swing.

When dancing Balboa, couples keep their torsos pressed tightly together; most of the motion is seen below the knees, giving the dance it's cartoon-like feel. "It's less about the look and more about the feel of the dance," says instructor Kelly Aresnault, who, with partner Mickey Fortansce, got top honors at the International Balboa Championship in San Diego, CA, last April. Balboa is more about instinct and intimacy than swing varieties that involve a lot of wide movements. "When you're in a close position, you feel everything the lead is telling you to do," she says.

It's a dance that might almost be a century old, but Aresnault, 27, has noticed increasing crowds at Balboa competitions throughout the country. "Every year, there's more and more events dedicated to Balboa, and more and more people dancing it," she says. This year's annual All Balboa Weekend in Cleveland, OH, had 500 participants, and as many can be expected at Balboa competitions in Detroit, MI, Raleigh, NC, and even Italy. Worried that your moves aren't up to snuff? Grab an instructional DVD and practice at home, then hit the dance halls.

Before you can perfect your moves, Lanna suggests getting the right shoes (Vans for men, high-heeled dance pumps for women) and some fast tempo music (he recommends the music of Duke Ellington and Count Basie).

Lanna says that once you feel the music, the body will follow.

"If you like that type of music," he says, "you're going to want to get up and dance, and if you don't know how to, you're going to want to know how to."

Posted on July 10, 2006