This Month's Featured Dancer
David Wells

Dave Wells, the new president of our local chapter of USA Dance took a moment to chat with me. Dave is friendly, outgoing, and is always willing to help you learn a new step if you ask him to.

Did you always love dancing?

"No. I grew up as a very uncoordinated kid who was a D- student in physical education. I couldn't do anything athletic growing up. When I went to college I had to take a PE course as a requirement for graduation, so I'm not sure why, but I signed up for ballroom dancing." When he took the class there were two sections of it, totaling 60 students. He enjoyed it and stuck with it because he says it gave him something to do on Friday nights and it was a nice way to meet women at a college where the ratio of men to women was 3:1. Dave says that when he left, six years later, the number enrolled had gone up from 60-some to 1100 who attended weekly dances on campus.

When did you start dancing in Rochester?

Dave had been living in Rochester when the then-USABDA was founded, but he was busy working and raising a family at the time, and wasn't dancing much. It wasn't until a guy he worked with kept telling him about how much he enjoyed ballroom dancing, that Dave remembered how much fun it had been in college. He let the guy talk him into attending a dance at Fred Astaire, and it wasn't long until he was taking lessons again. Andrea, at Fred Astaire, was his first teacher. There, he met a number of people that still come to the dances and who you are likely to see at any given dance.

What do you like best about dancing?

"The most enjoyable thing about going to the dances is meeting people and having fun." At first, Dave enjoyed dancing with the group that he was taking lessons with, because they had all learned the same steps. But after a while he took a different approach, and these days he likes asking beginners to dance, because it gives him an opportunity to teach a little and get to know someone new in the process. He says that this is how he got involved in the Community Education lessons. Talk to Dave if you're interested in taking some of these Community Ed classes, or look online. (link to CE)

What is your biggest pet peeve?

Dave has a hard time saying anything negative about the dances, but he does admit that his biggest pet peeve is when women complain to him that nobody is asking them to dance. "Women need to be brave enough to ask the guy to dance. So many women complain that guys don't ask them to dance, but the problem is that the more brave women are asking the men to dance, so there aren't any left over to ask the more demure women." Dave thinks we should all disregard the advice of Dr. Phil and others who say that a man should always make the first move. "Rochester is very friendly, most people come to the dances to dance, not to meet people, so if you want to dance, ask a guy to dance!"

What is something people most likely don't know about you?

Most people are familiar with Dave's many life-sized alter-egos, the most popular being Elvis. But something probably don't know he works on a puppet team at his church. He used to operate the puppets, but these days he's more behind-the-scenes. Still, he remembers when he first picked up a puppet. "Pup petting seems easy, but like dancing, the minute you start to learn, you realize the vast amount of stuff you don't know."

Why did you decide to run for president of our chapter?

"Nobody else wanted to do it, and I felt this organization was too important to have it not continue because of there being a lack of people to run it." If enough people don't volunteer, the organization will fold, and it almost did so once in the past. It's an interesting story -- ask Dave if you want to hear it.

Any final words?

"If anybody has any good ideas on how to improve the club, let us know. We're always looking for good suggestions!"