Changing Lives through Dancing by David Woodbury
Arthur Murray Santa Monica
Sometimes, at 68, I want to just throw up my hands in despair. I have been with Arthur Murray 48 years and have truly worked for and with the best trainers, leaders, mentors, and dancers in the world. The methods of training and service have always been set very high for me and the demands for excellence have always been required of me.
There are times that in the outside world, I see a gap in service and the work ethic and the desire to be the best and learn from the best. I do not often see young people with a burning desire to give the best service possible. Also, the living the concept of “Going the Extra Mile”.
Where are the dreamers, the self-starters, the take a chance and risk it all doers?
I’ll tell you where they are. On the ballroom dance floor. When you attend a dance competition, you will see the Junior Division, the Pre-Teen, Teen levels. You will see perfectly groomed dancers on the floor. The young people look like young adults. They have perfect manners on and off the floor. Their speech is elegant, and they know how to present on the floor, and they are masters of floor craft.
I love seeing young people dancing Foxtrot, Waltz, Tango, Cha Cha, Rumba and Swing, plus many more dances. They have taken many lessons in partnering and connection, and they know the poise, carriage, grace and composure and styling of their dances.
This is the same for young people in their 20’s and 30’s. Perfection in all areas on and off the competition floor. You will generally find that young people who dance are lovely people on and off the dance floor. They are still beautifully groomed and well spoken.
At Arthur Murray, I learned through training how to eat and elegant dinner with all the proper manners. I took a lesson on how to seat a lady at a formal dinner and how to not catch her dress on her chair. I learned how to enter the dance floor during a heat of dances and how to stand poised and ready. How to present my partner. How to finish a dance and exit the floor with my partner’s arm in mine.
I’ve always dreamed of the opportunity to be able to teach a social dancing class at the United Nations. I would teach how to move, act, and speak with perfect decorum. I would teach world peace through ballroom etiquette.
Yes, perhaps Ballroom Dancing will save the world! I still have a lot to learn about the world of dancing, even after 48 years with Arthur Murray Dance Centers. Here’s to the next 22 years with Arthur Murray. In my 90’s, I’ll become a student again and dance as long as God permits me to live!
Thanks for dreaming with me.
David Woodbury
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