Ballroom Dance Team Appears on National TV

The salsa, the cha-cha, the Viennese waltz. Dances of a bygone era. Or are they?

The producers of the new television show "Real Life" don't think so, and they're using the Harvard-Radcliffe Ballroom Dance Club (HRBDC) to prove it.

More than 100 NBC affiliates across the country aired a segment Tuesday morning depicting the renewal of ballroom dancing among young adults on the newsmagazine show "Real Life," which premiered last week.

The segment was produced by WHDH Channel 7, NBC's affiliate in Boston.

"[Ballroom dancing] is no longer something that our grandparents used to do," said Gina Fox, the show's publicist. "There is a kind of re-birth of this style of dancing that we thought had been put to rest."

Much of the segment's footage was shot last Sunday at the University Fund Raiser, a ballroom dance competition held in Revere, Mass., for college clubs across the East coast.

The four couples of the first-place Harvard A team caught the eye of the judges as well as the "Real Life" camera.

The Harvard B team took second place, beating out other schools including Yale University, Boston University and the United State Military Academy at West Point.

Omri Traub '98, a member of HRBDC, said the secret to dancing well is having the right frame of mind.

"A lot of it is the air you project on the floor," Traub said. "You have to walk on the dance floor and project the confidence to show the judges 'I am going to win this.'"

"You just have a feeling that the music is very expressive and that you just have to go with it," Traub continued. "You have to feel like you are gliding on the floor. You have to try to flow with the music and at the same time be technically correct."

Couples are judged on their technique, footwork, poise and confidence on the dance floor.

According to Fox, the goal for "Real Life" is to find stories that would not get much coverage as straight news, and to explore those more in-depth.