“When was the last time you did something for the first time?”
That’s dancer and instructor Alexandra Binder’s motto when bringing students into Blue Collar Ballroom, her dance studio and Shelter Island-based business.
This month, learning ballroom dance will be available beyond the studio with a community dance series kicking off at Unitarian Universalists of Southold for teens and adults.
Binder will lead five sessions teaching the basic steps to partner dances like merengue on Nov. 15, rumba on Jan. 17, swing on Feb. 21, foxtrot on March 21 and hustle on April 18.
Lessons will start at 4:30 p.m., lasting a half hour, and attendees will have the opportunity to practice their new moves and some old ones during the hour-and-a-half of social dancing afterwards.
Admission is $20 for adults and $10 for teens; partners are not required, as attendees will rotate partners.
The dance series came to life as a way to provide dance-curious people with a chance to get their feet wet and dance-lovers with a place to practice.
“Three are a lot of dancing opportunities in the spring and summer because of all the live music everywhere,” says Binder. “Anywhere you go there’s the ability to dance, but in the off-season, sometimes it’s a little bit more limited.”
When it comes time to hit the dance floor, partnerships are not based on gender, Binder says, but rather set up with one leader and one follower. “We practice timing; we practice dance position in terms of when you’re in dance position with a partner,” she says.
Binder, who has practiced and taught for 20 years, started Blue Collar Ballroom in March of 2023 in hopes of fostering the connection she had once felt while dancing at a studio in Riverhead.
“It was a community, and we would go dancing together and it was just so much fun,” she says. “I was missing that in my own life.”
Now, she specializes in training beginners who are looking to learn some new steps before heading to a wedding, having their own first dance as a couple or just looking to try something new on their own, with a partner or with friends.
Binder suggests that community dance participants prepare for the fun evenings by wearing casual, comfortable attire and comfortable shoes that securely attach to the foot.
For questions, email [email protected], and for updates on the series, click here.
