Showcase Dancers sessions allow dancers to perfect their moves

By MICHAEL FORTUNA, DAILY SUN

Friday, November 20, 2009 12:18 AM EST

THE VILLAGES — Back in 2003, Judie and Al Besey spotted an older couple dancing away on town square.

“We said, ‘We want to do that,’” Al said.

Six years and many lessons later, the Beseys can join that couple on the dance floor.

“You realize you continue to improve,” Al said. “It’s something we can do together.”

The Beseys have continued that march toward improvement by taking part in the Showcase Dancers’ practice session led by John and Geri Conrad on Wednesday afternoon at Canal Street Recreation Center.

Wearing a wireless microphone, Geri talked everyone through the different steps in the quickstep dance known as the Peabody.

The group formed a large circle around the room, and after some explanations, they danced around to Nat King Cole singing the up-tempo “Those Lazy-Hazy-Crazy Days of Summer.”

John and Geri showed the others how to move along as the music played.

“They have such a strong desire to learn more than the dance steps,” Geri said of the dancers. “They are aware there is more to it, (such as) ‘What do I do with my hands or my head?’ They want to have fun and look good.

“We make them feel like they can go dancing on ‘Dancing with the Stars.’ They can say, ‘I can do that.’”

Whenever the Conrads go to a local dance, they get a kick out of seeing their students moving on the dance floor.

“That’s really thrilling,” John said.

“It’s fantastic,” Geri said.

The Beseys, who live in Lake Shore Cottages at Lake Sumter Landing, had been a part of the Showcase Dancers for a while, but they had a scheduling conflict.

A few months ago, the Beseys returned to the fold.

“It’s a free session,” Al said.

“They’re special,” Judie said. “John and Geri make this class fun.”

The duo likes to dance the bolero and the waltz.

“I like slower dances with more form,” Al said. “It takes more skill to do that.”

The group, which has been around for about three years, gives intermediate and advanced level dancers a chance to learn new steps and practice old ones.

“They’ve gone through the fundamentals,” John said.

The Conrads spend at least a month working on a particular dance, but sometimes it can stretch out to two.

During Wednesday’s session, the Conrads added a few more moves of the Peabody, America’s answer to the British quickstep.

“It’s a fast tempo,” Geri said. “Americans love this tempo. It’s beautiful moving around the floor. Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers do that dance.”

“She’s Ginger and I’m Fred,” joked John, a Village of Calumet Grove resident.

The Conrads have been dancing together since 1963, and they ran an Arthur Murray dance studio in Pennsylvania for more than 30 years.

Growing up in Nebraska, Geri used to go to a ballroom dance every weekend, where she danced the foxtrot, polka and jitterbug, among others.

While in Omaha, she took a job as a bookkeeper and receptionist at an Arthur Murray studio.

“I didn’t want to be a teacher,” Geri said. “One day, the didn’t have a teacher for a class for teenagers. They said, ‘You’re it.’ I found out I loved (teaching).”

The Showcase Dancers meet 1-2 p.m. Wednesdays at Canal Street Recreation Center. Residents with intermediate and advanced dancing ability are welcome to join. For information, call John and Geri Conrad at 259-9763.

Michael Fortuna is a reporter with the Daily Sun. He can be reached at 753-1119, ext. 9234, or michael.fortuna@thevillagesmedia.com.