Dance lessons forge parish ties at St. Pius X, N.O.

A floor that usually gets pounded by ricocheting basketballs and spiked volleys is overrun by the shuffling feet of dancers every Monday night at St. Pius X in New Orleans.

“Remember: The lady always starts out on her right foot. Why? Because the lady is always ‘right,’” said St. Pius parishioner Kerry Lovell, sharing an old dance nugget with about 20 Cajun-dancing parishioners inside the Father A. T. Screen Gym.

The Aug. 15 session, provided at no cost by parishioners Joe and Joy Barreca, kicked off a new season of parish-sponsored dance lessons after a brief summer hiatus. In the coming months, the program will offer weekly, year-round lessons to parishioners for a small fee in a number of dance genres, including swing, rumba, foxtrot and cha cha.
 

Come as you are

“No partner is required,” said Lovell, noting that he deliberately mixes up the dancing pairs to accommodate odd-numbered groups and to expose his students to a wide range of styles and proficiency levels.

“The mission is not to teach people to become professional dancers,” Lovell said. “The mission is to help them get started, and if they want more intensive lessons, we can connect them with what they need.”

A phone company engineer who took up ballroom dancing in 2005, Lovell is outreach coordinator for the Louisiana “Gumbo” chapter of USA Dance, a national effort that provides professional dance instructors to interested groups and supports the establishment of ballroom dancing as an Olympic sport.

Convinced that dance lessons would be a great way to build parish fellowship in a coed setting, Lovell got the go-ahead from his pastor, Father Patrick Williams, to launch the unique social ministry in February 2010.

“What we do is kind of between barroom dancing and ballroom dancing,” Lovell explained. “We do dances like the swing and the cha cha – dances you could do on very small floor area, even though space is not a problem for us here,” he said.

“The students have a lot of say in what we do,” Lovell adds. “We did the waltz but they didn’t like it. Swing seems to be their favorite, and they like Cajun dancing, because there are places like Mulate’s where they can practice what they’ve learned.”

Dance student Ali Armbruster, a dental hygienist and St. Pius choir member, said she and her fellow rug-cutters are dancing “works-in-progress” who regularly step on each other’s feet and who laugh throughout the one-hour sessions.
 

Lessons unite couple

“I used to watch my parents dance – they were married 66 years. It was just beautiful watching them dance at weddings and family get-togethers, always as a couple,” Armbruster said.

Arriving solo for her first lesson, Armbruster soon found herself paired up with another single student – George Foltz –  a St. Pius usher and lector.

“We were thrown together as dance partners, and our relationship and romance ensued,” Armbruster said. “We call (Lovell) ‘Cupid’ because dancing brought us together. The couples who dance with us are dear friends now. It’s really bonded us with members of the parish.”

While the majority of the participants are middle-aged, their ranks include a sprightly 80-year-old woman and a 12-year-old girl, who steps and spins right alongside her parents.

Lovell, who notes that USA Dance is available to help high schools teach their students in the lead-up to formal dances, would love to see more teens and young adults learn the art of pair dancing. A recent ballroom dancing event drew more than 300 fifth graders from 28 Jefferson Parish public schools, and St. Pius’ dancers are a common sight at a local bowling alley’s Wednesday “Swing Night.”

“Some of our people who were just beginning were out dancing at Mulate’s, and spectators who didn’t know anything about Cajun dancing assumed they were advanced dancers,” Lovell said. “It’s kind of a reflection of how dance (proficiency) is at all different levels. Even if you know just a little bit, you can get out on the dance floor and look like you know what you’re doing.”

The lessons are open to St. Pius X parishioners only. However, Lovell welcomes inquiries from any parish or school that is interested in setting up a dance program. He can be reached at 485-5692.

Beth Donze can be reached at [email protected].