YULE MOVES
Holiday Dance Studio offers seasonal-themed parties
Waltz the night away or spice things up with some salsa dancing this December at Holiday Dance Studio.
The second annual Charles Dickens Winter Ball will feature a waltz dance lesson and professional performances throughout the evening on Dec. 21. Guests will see bolero, rhumba, waltz, foxtrot, salsa and country two-step routines performed by the dance studio staff. The floor also will open to guests for dancing.
“The place is going to be decked out very beautiful and elegant for the Winter Ball,” said Joey Hudson, owner and operator of Holiday Dance Studio. “The Charles Dickens kind of insinuates a little bit of the Victorian era, and we will have some folks that dress that way, but it’s not required. It’s more of a formal ball with a holiday theme.”
Holiday Dance will turn up the heat the next night for its Holiday Salsa Extravaganza on Dec. 22. The event will feature live performances by Terra Plena and Ivon Ulibarri & Café Mocha, who will play a variety of tropical music, including salsa, bachata, merengue and cumbia. A salsa lesson will kick things off at 7:30 p.m.
“One of my wife’s and my favorite bands is (Ivon Ulibarri &) Café Mocha,” Hudson said. Both (bands) will be playing at the Holiday Salsa Extravaganza, so that’s a big deal. …I’m expecting quite a big crowd for that one.”
Holiday Dance Studio does more than teach dance.
“We do a lot of things as a club,” Hudson said. “We have a lot of things happening in December. We are not just a dance school. We are a place to come dancing. We do live music through our Holiday Dance Live Local, live music that is local artists. We’re really focusing on that.”
The events give the public a chance to dress up and dance in a venue that is not a bar or a nightclub. Holiday Dance hosts Friday parties each week that feature music, dancing and hors d’oeuvres. Singles, couples and groups are welcome to the events as well as to take dance lessons at the studio.
“We teach partnership dancing but that doesn’t mean you have to be in a relationship to come and take partnership dancing lessons or to be at our parties,” Hudson said. “Our instructors dance with everyone. I dance with everyone, and our students dance with everyone too, so it’s a good place to come and meet people who are interested in learning dance just like they are.”