Utah Stories

The Voice of Local Utah

Country Line Dancing in Utah

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country line dancing utah
Photo courtesy of The Westerner

Country line dancing emerged in the 1970s and has since become such a staple at dance bars that many might assume it existed since the days of the Old West. The appeal is understandable: the choreography is mostly minimal and contact non-existent. Anyone with a little bit of rhythm can line dance.

“I love line dancing because it’s by yourself and with others at the same time,” says line dancing enthusiast Michelle Barrett. Now into her mid-30s, she says “I’ve been line dancing since I was fifteen, since we all were dancing to ‘Achy Breaky Heart.’”

The most popular country line dancing destination in the Salt Lake Valley is The Westerner Club on Redwood Road.  Opened in 1962, the establishment served as Salt Lake City’s original country dancehall, bar and grill. Over five decades later, the club remains as popular as ever.

The club boasts the “largest dance floor in Utah” and offers free dance lessons to prospective learners (or doubters) on Thursdays and Fridays.

Though the classics still rate, popular line dancing songs these days are sung by country superstars Luke Bryan, Carrie Underwood, Blake Shelton, Chris Young, and Miranda Lambert. “I love dancing to old and new songs,” says young dancer Todd Jensen. “There really aren’t that many steps to know, and it’s usually easy to follow another’s lead if you get lost. That’s what’s fun about it. Not all eyes are on you.”

Popular dances include the Country Slide, Canadian Stomp, Puttin’ on the Ritz, and Two Step Line Dance.

For the folks who are a little shy when it comes to dancing, every Wednesday at the Westerner is “Stein Wednesday” which celebrates the 24 different beers the club has on tap. The club is also home to its famous mechanical bull, and hosts the popular Bikini Bull Riding competition every Friday night.

Many well-known artists also perform at the dancehall on a regular basis. Chris Cagle will perform on August 8, and Colt Ford, featuring Demun Jones, performs in October.

“One of the biggest misconceptions about line dancing is that you have to be really into the country music scene in order to get into it,” says Jensen. “That’s not true at all. I’m not that heavy into the scene, but I still love line dancing because of the energy it brings.”

Barrett agrees. “Country line dancing is a strange phenomenon because it brings people together, even if they don’t ever directly dance with one another.”

For more information visitwww.westernerslc.com.

 

The Horne Fine Art Gallery/Studio

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Karen Horne creates art from art. Dancers float in soft pastel colors. She often listens to music while she paints. When she did a big waltz painting, she put on waltz music to help her feel the speed and whirling action. As Karen talks about her artwork, big band music plays in the background of her studio.

Karen, standing in front of her painting "Enchanted Evening at the Viennese Ball"
Karen, standing in front of her painting “Enchanted Evening at the Viennese Ball”

While speaking, Karen gestures gracefully, as if dancing. In fact, she took eight years of ballet and goes ballroom dancing with her husband. She likes ballroom dancing because it gives a range of emotions: swing is happy, the Argentine Tango more dramatic. The rumba’s more sensual, the waltz more romantic. Karen pushes more high key and high intensity colors to convey feeling. For example, she emphasizes black and red in a tango piece to make it more severe.

She turned to ballroom dancing in her art because she danced and watched others perform. Being a dancer helps her paint dancers because she understands the posture, footwork, and tension in a particular move. “The act of painting already is a dance,” she says. Karen uses long sweeps of her arm to travel across the canvas and make the marks fluid.

She works mainly with pastels but also likes the luscious quality of oils. Pastels make for more improvisational drawing, and pastel sandpaper holds color and adds texture. “There’s a breeziness in the medium,” she says, yet it’s hard to do a really big pastel because it has to be under glass, and pastel papers come in smaller sizes. She does her larger pieces on canvas, which gives stronger support. Oil has more body. You can layer more, add more dimension. “It’s a toss up,” she says. “What I’m trying to do is get more of the transparency and immediacy of the pastels into the oil paintings.”

To view Karen’s Romance of Dance collection, visit Horne Fine Art Gallery/Studio at 800 South and 142 East and her website www.hornefineart.com.  801-910-2088

Pole Dancing Competition Too Sexy

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Davis County Commissioner Bret Millburn “has an issue” with the overly sexy way pole dancing is portrayed and attempted to stop fitness competition.

by Rebecca Edwards

Utah Pole DancingAfter an embroiled controversy, Davis County Commissioner Bret Millburn has relented and approved Utah’s first pole dancing contest. Utah Stories first explored the fitness side of pole dancing in our top story of 2008 on Studio Soiree in Sugar House. This story left no doubt that this form of exercise is intense, challenging, and highly skilled.

The Miss Pole Dance Utah competition is scheduled for Saturday, May 16th at the Davis Conference Center from 7pm–10pm. Though the event was already slated to take place, when Millburn discovered the nature of the competition he became concerned and took action to try to stop the event.

“I have an issue with how it is portrayed on its website,” the commissioner said. “It doesn’t show me any sort of athletic component. It doesn’t speak fitness. This speaks something else.”

Checking out the website,www.misspoledanceutah.com, I found pictures and videos of athletes dressed in typical dancewear performing incredible physical feats that just so happen to take place with the aid of a pole. Going even further, the site makes it clear that the competition will not tolerate any provocative movements or sexual gestures, such as “booty bouncing” or excessive hip rolling. They also have strict rules about dress code, banning g-strings and stating that “any wardrobe malfunction will result in disqualification.” The competition is also restricted to those age 13 or older.

With so many measures in place to ensure the athletic integrity of the event, what got Millburn so worked up? The event was pitched initially as an athletic competition, which is how it got approved in the first place. His concern that the event would be adult entertainment is clearly addressed by the creators and sponsors of the competition. Event co-sponsor Meagan Burroughs, owner of Adult Dance & Fitness in Ogden, said the competition is fitness-focused, not adult entertainment. “This is just tricks, no hips involved, no bootie popping, no provocative movements or sexual gestures, including touching yourself,” Burroughs said

Burroughs is one among many who are trying to change the idea that pole dancing only belongs in a smoky bar with strippers and salacious male customers. Over the past few years pole dancing as a fitness craze has gained popularity among celebrities, soccer moms, and even middle-aged women raging war against the ravages of time. The push to make this activity mainstream led Studio Soiree in Sugar House to become involved in a worldwide movement to get pole dancing recognized as an Olympic sport for the 2012 games in London.

“This is a rather edgy-looking advertisement. This speaks of adult entertainment.”

-Davis County Commissioner, Bret Millburn

“Pole dancing isn’t all that sexy, because when you’re sweating and upside down, it’s not pretty and not as attractive as people think.”

-Meghan Burroughs, owner of Adult Dance & Fitness

“I am a 56 year old married, mother of 4 and grandmother of 7, and I have been taking pole dancing for several months and find it to be one of the hardests and funnest forms of exercise I have ever done.”

-Darlene, pole dancing student.

Studio Soiree Offers a New Spin On Pole Dancing

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Studio Soiree is a new business in Sugar House offering pole fitness lessons. Participants include men learning acrobatic manuvers shaping up for rock climbing.

Niqui Eastman knew that opening a pole dancing studio in Salt Lake City, Utah would be a challenge given the highly conservative nature of most citizens. Pole dancing lessons have been popular in the Eastern United States the West Coast and especially in Las Vegas for some time.

Utah pole dancingDue to the cultural misgivings, Eastman and her business partner decided to offer pole dancing lessons with varying degrees of sexiness. All of their exercises are designed to provide killer core workouts. However, Eastman’s new class is designed for men (sexy hip movements or high-heeled stilettos not required). One might assume that men in pole dancing lessons might be there to watch more than participate. The men observed in Niqu’s class, however, were acrobatic and incredibly strong. Along side of Eastman, are Zoria, Kyle, Nielson and Des. The only female in Eastman’s class is Zoria Judd. Judd says she isn’t graceful enough for pole dancing but she says the workout from the maneuvers has made her stronger than ever.

My first instinct of coming to a class to watch men spinning on poles was that I might cringe. I kept wondering what kind of man one must be to take pole dancing lessons. Although the maneuvers are indeed much more acrobatic than seductive, it seems it would take a man with a lot of inhibition and courage to sign up for pole dancing.

Participants learn how to perform moves with names such as “falling angel”. Without watching the film one might assume Niqui is training these men to become strippers. However, I was amazed by how easily I mischaracterized the nature of the classes and participants. According to Kyle Borland he would never consider a class to become a stripper. “I’m far too shy to dance,” says Borland. Kyle Borland is a self-employed stone mason and rock climber. These aren’t men who put out a weird vibe, they all were outgoing, friendly with a normal balance of testosterone. All the men I spoke to said the class has helped them to feel less inhibited and have fun while exercising. Des Lownds, a software engineer, laughs as he attempts a maneuver that sends him in a awkward spirol down the pole.

“Men are on poles, and I kind of think that throwing your body around a pole is much more fun than curling a weight or pulling on a band,” says Eastman.

In the same neighborhood that offers the Blue Boutique (offering adult lingerie) and a bakery offering X rated shaped cakes and cookies, one might assume that if there were any location to offer a pole dancing class that that place would be Sugar House. However, Eastman doesn’t want her classes to be labeled as erotic or gross. “We want to offer classes that are fun, classy and a great way to get fit… I don’t teach men or women how to be sexy, I think either your momma gave it to you, or you don’t have it.” Eastman defines “sexy” more in terms of confidence and less in terms of erotic behavior. She believes her classes help students to be less inhibited, and feel good about who they are, all while having a great time.

The success of Studio Soiree is apparent in both the number of classes they offer as well as the number of students. The pole fitness is a international phenomenon, popular even in China. Soon Studio Soiree will be offering a DVD video of their pole maneuvers to a world-wide audience. There are also talks in the works of a reality T.V program. Eastman says they will also soon be opening another studio in Utah. Past disputes over controversial businesses in Utah have been over the Bikini Cuts franchise expansion and the moving of Blue Boutique (East of Highland Drive). These past controversies are likely an indication that Eastman will face an uphill battle if she attempts to move almost anywhere outside of Sugar House. Eastman’s classy reputation will need to proceed her in order to prevent the skeptics from defining Studio Soiree, before they have a chance to define themselves.