"Learning to Keep the Beat at Metronome Dance Center"
by Octavio Roca
Saturday, April 13, 2002
Should you lead or should you follow? Should you perhaps be flexible
enough to do both? These basic questions come with their own beat in San
Francisco's Metronome Ballroom, where experts of that swinging sport have
been meeting this week to achieve certification in ballroom dance teaching.
The scene is Metronome's Potrero Hill studios. Sixteen dance teachers from all over the United States and Canada, a display of virtually all body types and several generations, stand in loose lines before an elegant, lithe woman dressed in a floppy cotton blouse, black slacks and, yes, cha-cha heels.
She is Metronome founder Diane Jarmolow. Behind her are charts and symbols, presumably illustrations for the chanting that follows as all repeat, "One, toe. Two, toe, heel, toe... It changes on 13, ball of foot, toe heel toe" or something along those lines. These complicated formulas sound far from "Strictly Ballroom" and closer to "A Beautiful Mind."
"What dance is this they're doing?" a visitor asks.
"The waltz," explains the guide.
Like baseball and ballet, two other very physical spectator sports with meticulously detailed rules, modern standard ballroom dance can look back on deep roots in history as well as ahead to growing respect as a sport.
The rules, born in Blackpool, England, nearly a century ago, have grown to cover the steps involved in the waltz, tango, foxtrot and quickstep and Latin. This last category has ballooned with the popularity of salsa, on top of the existing vogues for samba and cha-cha — though the British-made rules for ballroom cha-cha would puzzle anyone familiar with the original Cuban cha-cha-cha.
"But dancing is mainly social," said Jarmolow. "And most people just want to dance, not compete. We are here for them."
No kidding. Metronome's intensive teacher training program winds up today but returns in June and December. There is also a new Latin course from May 9 through Aug. 19. A swing course follows in August and runs through December. There is a gay and lesbian partner dancing program, including salsa and Lindy hop. There are also wedding workshops ("Low-stress instruction will make sure you shine on the dance floor: for wedding couples and their wedding parties"). There is even an adult ballet program, taught by Oakland Ballet alumna Julie Lowe.
After a suggestion of "Let's see you teach now," students take turns leading the class under Jarmolow's smiling direction. Was that toe-heel-toe or is there a slide before toe? Learn by doing, then learn to explain it to others: That is what the class is about. Salsa and the foxtrot follow the waltz. An unusual "karate chop technique" for slipping your right arm under the partner's left armpit proves a particularly fascinating way to lead.
A short while later, a walk next door to Metronome's larger studio reveals a busy hive of activity and at least one face familiar to Bay Area dance lovers.
"This is very different," said Tianne Frias, a dancer with Robert Moses' Kin who also teaches at the Metronome. "And I've learned a lot from Diane. She is a master teacher, very clear."
Who goes to Metronome?
"Right now, we have a lot of engineers, for some reason," said Jarmolow. "We have a judge, a vice president of MasterCard, secretaries, all kinds of people."
Is there anyone who just plain can't dance?
"I've never met that person," said Jarmolow.
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