What Dave Spangler calls a love story began ten years ago when he first met his future wife Donna at the Roanoke Airport, where he worked for Dollar-Rent-A-Car. Donna, who needed a car for business, came in on a Sunday afternoon. It happened to be a slow day, and the two of them began conversing. Donna was single and had been dancing for several years.
“She was trying to recruit single men for the local ballroom dance chapter’s first ever beginner ballroom dance classes,” Spangler says, “and I wasn’t really all that interested in the dancing. But I was interested in her and, as they say, the rest is history.”
Not only did Dave wind up dancing with and ultimately marrying Donna, for the past six years, the two have been teaching others how to “trip the light fantastic.” As both work full-time jobs, they offer their classes part-time, though, Spangler adds, when they retire they might consider going full-time.
After initially teaching at the Stardust Ballroom on Brambleton Avenue, the Spanglers moved to the Roanoke Ballet Theatre on Grandin, which was expanding to become more than a ballet venue. “We taught ballroom, Latin, and swing dancing there for three years,” Spangler recalls, “and then they needed to change their floor, which did not work for the high heels of the ladies and, so now, we actually teach in about six different locations around the Valley.”
The Spanglers offer group lessons at the downtown YWCA, and private lessons at LifeWise Fitness on Brambleton Avenue. They also host dances at both the Roanoke and Salem YMCA’s, Carter Athletic Center at North Cross School, and the Roanoke Athletic Club.
Each of these dances begins with an hour long group class, providing instructions for the different dances at the event, followed by a two-hour dance party. In addition to ballroom dancing, the Spanglers teach all the Latin forms of dance (cha-cha, rumba, salsa, mambo), swing (East Coast and West Coast varieties), and some of the newer dances such as nightclub two-step.
One of the benefits in learning ballroom dancing, says Spangler, is that it provides good exercise. “We’ve got numerous stories of people who have talked about having lost weight. But even more so, just getting in better shape, toning up their muscles, etc. – it’s just a fun thing to do.” According to Spangler, the main age group that turns out for their dances are baby boomers, many times dealing with empty nest syndrome at home. Dancing affords them a way to reconnect with others.
“It’s a better date-night than going to the movies and sitting there for two-and-a-half hours, not really talking to each other,” says Spangler. “You’re actually doing something together that you enjoy doing. It can be a very romantic situation for couples. And it’s also a great way for singles to meet as opposed to doing the bar scene.”
In the beginning, the Spanglers were faced with the problem of more single ladies than men at their dances, one they committed to prayer for resolution. “Now, in the last year, year-and-a-half,” Spangler says, “ … more times than not, we have more single men than single ladies at our dances.” When it comes to single people attending their dances, Spangler says he and Donna have on average found two different dynamics. One is “single folks who are coming looking for something more than dance—for romance. And that’s fine … But there’s an awful lot of singles that come just because they enjoy dancing, and they’re not looking for anything more than that. And that works out well, too.”
The Spanglers’ website (dancingduo.net) provides information, not only about their events, but on other dance related activities in the area, and has become known as “Dance Central.” What Dave Spangler calls “youngers,” the twenty and thirty-year-old age bracket, are very interested in salsa.
“Blue Five, a restaurant downtown, has a salsa event every second Tuesday. There’s a group in Southwest County that meets at St. John’s Lutheran, called Swing Roanoke. They meet every Tuesday, and teach all forms of swing dancing. Shag is very popular in the area. You[‘ve] got Watusy’s and Blueberry Hill. Folks who are not involved in dance sometimes say to us, ‘Well, there’s no place to dance in Roanoke;’ that’s not true. They’re just not involved in the dance scene. Once they become involved, they say, ‘There’s lots of places to dance.’”
Spangler attributes the popularity of television programs such as “Dancing with the Stars” and “So You Think You Can Dance” in getting people out on the dance floor. “They see it on TV and say, ‘Boy, I wish I could do that,’ and so, obviously, we can teach you to learn to dance.”
Further information about the Spanglers’ dance classes is available at [email protected] and www.dancingduo.net, or by calling 540.772.2238.