wyllo
New Member
This article is available on the USA Today website:
Interest in dance grows by leaps and bounds
By Gary Strauss, USA TODAY
Tails and top hats aren't making a comeback just yet. But ballroom dancing, as a media phenomenon, sport, hobby and business, is enjoying its biggest resurgence since the 1940s.
Arthur Murray, No. 1 in the $500 million lessons market, says business among 155 U.S. franchisees is up sharply this year. "We're on pace for a 20% increase, which is unheard of," says marketing chief Thomas Murdock.
Professional competitions have surged from about 25 a year to more than 90, some with up to 13,000 entries, says Brian McDonald, president of the National Dance Council of America.
Underscoring ballroom fever:
• ABC reality show Dancing with the Stars (tonight, 9 ET/PT) pulled in 13.5 million viewers June 1, the biggest audience for the inaugural launch of a summer series since CBS' Survivor in 2000. Viewership rose 12% to 15.1 million last week as Dancing again won its time slot.
•Mad Hot Ballroom, Paramount Classics' acclaimed documentary about New York City fifth-graders' journey into competitive ballroom dancing, expands Friday to more than 155 theaters. Mad Hot has pulled in a healthy $1.8 million in limited release.
The appeal of formalized hoofin'? "It's clearly fresh, fun and sexy to a new generation of women in love with dressing up and behaving in formal style," says Glamour magazine editor Cindi Leive.
Much of ballroom's renewed popularity is media driven, says Murdock, who cities PBS airings of ballroom competitions and the October 2004 release of Shall We Dance, the Richard Gere/Jennifer Lopez movie about a bored executive whose marriage is revitalized through dance.
"Since the film, there has been a big increase in men wanting lessons," Murdock says. "Our students used to be 55 and older, with the majority women. Now many are men or couples in their 20s and 30s. Lopez and Gere increased interest in a younger audience."
"Ballroom dancing is no longer just for old fuddy-duddies," McDonald says. "Young people like it because it's different, artistic and has a great competitive attitude about it."
There'll probably be more Fred Astaire-Ginger Rogers wannabes when Ballroom Bootcamp, featuring average people turned competitors, begins on cable's The Learning Channel this fall. So You Think You Can Dance, a competition from the producers of American Idol, also will feature ballroom action when it premieres July 20 on Fox. And next year's film Take the Lead will feature Antonio Banderas as Pierre Dulaine, who brought ballroom dancing to New York City public schools.
Andrea Wong, ABC's chief of alternative programming, was skeptical of Dancing's potential when the show was pitched by British TV producer Richard Hopkins, who launched the BBC hit version.
"It has broad appeal because it's intense, over the top and it's quite intimate," says Hopkins, who has since expanded the show to 11 countries.
After watching a British episode, Wong was hooked. "It's beautiful, sexy and outrageous," she says.
Dancing's popularity has inspired Fox to green-light a reality show on ice, Skating with Celebrities, which will feature weekly elimination competitions. Fox says the series is now being cast but is unscheduled
Interest in dance grows by leaps and bounds
By Gary Strauss, USA TODAY
Tails and top hats aren't making a comeback just yet. But ballroom dancing, as a media phenomenon, sport, hobby and business, is enjoying its biggest resurgence since the 1940s.
Arthur Murray, No. 1 in the $500 million lessons market, says business among 155 U.S. franchisees is up sharply this year. "We're on pace for a 20% increase, which is unheard of," says marketing chief Thomas Murdock.
Professional competitions have surged from about 25 a year to more than 90, some with up to 13,000 entries, says Brian McDonald, president of the National Dance Council of America.
Underscoring ballroom fever:
• ABC reality show Dancing with the Stars (tonight, 9 ET/PT) pulled in 13.5 million viewers June 1, the biggest audience for the inaugural launch of a summer series since CBS' Survivor in 2000. Viewership rose 12% to 15.1 million last week as Dancing again won its time slot.
•Mad Hot Ballroom, Paramount Classics' acclaimed documentary about New York City fifth-graders' journey into competitive ballroom dancing, expands Friday to more than 155 theaters. Mad Hot has pulled in a healthy $1.8 million in limited release.
The appeal of formalized hoofin'? "It's clearly fresh, fun and sexy to a new generation of women in love with dressing up and behaving in formal style," says Glamour magazine editor Cindi Leive.
Much of ballroom's renewed popularity is media driven, says Murdock, who cities PBS airings of ballroom competitions and the October 2004 release of Shall We Dance, the Richard Gere/Jennifer Lopez movie about a bored executive whose marriage is revitalized through dance.
"Since the film, there has been a big increase in men wanting lessons," Murdock says. "Our students used to be 55 and older, with the majority women. Now many are men or couples in their 20s and 30s. Lopez and Gere increased interest in a younger audience."
"Ballroom dancing is no longer just for old fuddy-duddies," McDonald says. "Young people like it because it's different, artistic and has a great competitive attitude about it."
There'll probably be more Fred Astaire-Ginger Rogers wannabes when Ballroom Bootcamp, featuring average people turned competitors, begins on cable's The Learning Channel this fall. So You Think You Can Dance, a competition from the producers of American Idol, also will feature ballroom action when it premieres July 20 on Fox. And next year's film Take the Lead will feature Antonio Banderas as Pierre Dulaine, who brought ballroom dancing to New York City public schools.
Andrea Wong, ABC's chief of alternative programming, was skeptical of Dancing's potential when the show was pitched by British TV producer Richard Hopkins, who launched the BBC hit version.
"It has broad appeal because it's intense, over the top and it's quite intimate," says Hopkins, who has since expanded the show to 11 countries.
After watching a British episode, Wong was hooked. "It's beautiful, sexy and outrageous," she says.
Dancing's popularity has inspired Fox to green-light a reality show on ice, Skating with Celebrities, which will feature weekly elimination competitions. Fox says the series is now being cast but is unscheduled
