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| The Yachats Big Band. |
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| Andy Lau and Nancy Mitchell, dancing last week in Yachats. OCT photo. |
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| Easy as 1-2-3
By Niki Price
Oregon Coast Today
Every sport has its crucial numbers. In baseball, it’s a .301 batting average or a 6-4-3 double play. Football has its 1st and 10, while basketball has the one-on-one and the three-point line.
But when it comes to numbers, there’s one sport that puts them all to shame. It’s ruled by the 1 and 2 and 3 and 4, or sometimes the 123, 123. Perhaps the 2, 3, 4-and-1? They’re all rhythms, the driving force behind an adult pastime that’s growing in popularity on the central coast: ballroom dancing. Whether it’s salsa, tango, waltz, foxtrot or cha cha — or the Eugene dance obsession that has spilled over to Newport, Argentine tango — there are places to learn and practice all over Lincoln County.
It’s a far cry from the early 1990s, said Bonnie Prater. Prater was raised in Oregon, then spent eight years living on the East Coast; it was in the suburbs of Baltimore that she took her first dancing classes and rediscovered a lifelong passion.
“I had always seen it on television, in old movies with Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers, I’ve known since I was a small child that I wanted to know how to dance. I started dancing when I moved to Maryland, and I just fell in love with it. I moved back to Newport because I knew I didn’t want to live in a big city the rest of my life. But I didn’t want to live without dancing, either,” she said.
Along with a few other kindred souls, she started a dance group that met once a month for a CD-dance party. Prater also spent days every week driving back and forth to Portland for lessons at an independent studio, where she not only improved but learned to lead, as well as to follow. Eventually, however, she got tired of the drive and thought she might try to grow the dance community here, instead.
She now teaches a variety of ballroom styles, from beginners on up, at Dance! And All That Jazz, and the South Beach Community Center, both in Newport. Once her students learn a few moves and gain a little confidence, she encourages them to attend one of two live Big Band dance concerts held each month in the county. The Yachats Big Band plays on the first Thursday of the month at the Yachats Commons, while the Lincoln Pops Big Band performs on the third Thursday of each month at the Gleneden Beach Community Hall (except for January, unfortunately. The next Lincoln Pops concert is set for Feb. 21).
Prater said she loves to dance to a live band.
“When you’re dancing to a CD, you know what you’re going to get, where the highlights and the stops are, so you get used to it. When you’re with a live band, even though they have a standard playlist, it changes based on the moods of the players and how they’re feeling,” she said. “The tempo can be different from month to month. There’s an energy there that’s not on a CD. There are people watching you, and you’re feeding on that energy, and your energy is feeding them.”
Then again, playing to recorded music offers a greater range of styles. Prater hosts a monthly social tango, called a milonga, using an arranged sequence of dance music from her mp3 player, at The Ark in Newport. It’s fun to kick up your heels, she said, to a good samba or cha cha.
Nancy Reid, on the other hand, has come to adore a single style of ballroom dancing: the Argentine tango. A former student of Bonnie Prater, Reid accompanied her instructor to a tango class in Eugene about three years ago — and she was hooked. Since then, she’s launched a weekly tango practica (or practice), a monthly milonga and a series of visiting instructors. This tango community she helped to start has grown by leaps and bounds, and has its own web site, newportoregontango.com.
Every Monday night, you can find the tango lovers at the South Beach Community Center. They dance from 7:30 to 9 p.m., all levels are welcome and admission is by donation (“We only have to make $10 to cover our rent,” Reid said).
“It started out that I wanted people to dance with here, so that I wouldn’t have to drive to Portland or Eugene. But right away, I was amazed at how much people love it. It started out as my passion, but now others share it, too,” Reid said.
Up in Lincoln City, Ernie and Tina Inclan have their loyal following, too. Ernie has been teaching ballroom dancing for more than 30 years, and it’s something he still loves to do. His latest venue is the Chinook Winds Golf Resort clubhouse, where he’ll be teaching waltz on Tuesday nights in January. Other styles will follow, depending what the students want, he said.
“We may do salsa, tango or swing — and there’s no partner required,” he said.
In her tango travels, Reid has visited many different dancing communities. The central coast scene, she said, will make anyone feel at home.
“It’s such a friendly community. I really appreciate that when you go to these events, you will dance. The dancers reach out to new people and make them feel comfortable. We’re all accepting of each other, and I like that,” Reid said. “You don’t have to be beautiful, or a great dancer or anything. It’s a place to have a nice social encounter, feel welcome and have a community.”
Find more adult dance classes & activities at the Lincoln City Community Center
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Dance lessons
Dance! And All That Jazz!
630 SW Hurbert St., Newport • 541-574-0877
Ongoing Tuesday night lessons with Bonnie Prater
7:30-8:30 p.m. Intermediate Foxtrot
8:30-9:30 p.m. Intermediate Cha Cha
Drop in for $7 an hour, or a month of lessons for $6 an hour
South Beach Community Center
3024 Ferry Slip, Newport • 541-574-0877
Ongoing Wednesday night lessons with Bonnie Prater
7-8 p.m. Beginning Samba, second month
8-9 p.m. Beginning American Tango
Drop in for $7 an hour, or a month of lessons for $6 an hour
Newport Recreation Center
225 SE Avery, Newport • 541-265-7783
Introduction to Argentine Tango with Elizabeth Wartluf
6-7 p.m. Tuesdays, Jan. 10 through Feb. 14
$60 for the six-week session
Chinook Winds Golf Resort
North end of Lincoln City on Hwy. 101 • 541-994-9632
Ongoing ballroom dance lessons with Ernie Inclan
7-8 p.m. Tuesday nights on an ongoing basis, changing styles once a month
$20 per four-week session
Social dances
The Yachats Commons
W. Fourth St. and Hwy. 101, Yachats
The Yachats Big Band practices all month long to be at top form for their dance concerts, held the first Thursday of every month from 7 to 10 p.m. Couples, families and singles are invited to dance to the Big Band classics of Glen Miller, Count Basie, Duke Ellington and others, or just come listen and enjoy an evening of great entertainment, in a smoke- and alcohol-free hall. Admission is $5 for adults, free for children under 12. The next dance is set for Feb. 7. For details, call 541-265-2514. www.geocities.com/yhtsbgbnd/
The Ark at Newport
453 SW Coast Hwy./Hwy. 101, Newport
The Ark, a renovated Art Deco-style theatre in the city center, offers a social dance with recorded music every Friday and Saturday evening from 7 to 10 p.m. This Friday, Jan. 11, Bonnie Prater will be hosting a social tango milonga. On the first Saturday of the month, on a varied schedule, Ark owner Barry Brusters hosts beginner’s lessons starting at 1 p.m., followed by a milonga tea at 2 p.m. Admission is $5 at the door; wine, beer and other refreshments available for sale. 541-574-8879 or thearkatnewport.com.
Gleneden Beach Community Hall
110 Azalea St., Gleneden Beach (four miles south of Lincoln City off the GB Loop Road)
This old community center offers one of the best wooden dancing floors around. The 17-member Lincoln Pops Big Band plays a dance concert there on the third Thursday of every month (except for January, so the next dance is Feb. 21) from 7:30 to 10 p.m. Admission is $5 at the door and dancers of all ages are welcome to the smoke- and alcohol-free environment. Coffee, tea, desserts and other refreshments are sold inside. 541-764-5270.
South Beach Community Center
3024 Ferry Slip, Newport (just south of the Oregon Coast Aquarium)
The Newport Argentine Tango community hosts a practica every Monday night from 7:30 to 9 p.m. All levels are welcome, but instruction is not provided. 541-265-8395 or newportoregontango.com
You tango, too? Bravo!
E-mail your dance group’s info to niki@oregoncoasttoday.com.
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