Ballroom dancers converge in Provo

PROVO — While the BYU men's basketball team battled it out with the University of Wyoming Friday night in Las Vegas, another group of athletes stormed their home court. Clad in high heels and bedecked in sequins, these competitors weren't shooting any hoops, though.

Ballroom dancers from all over the United States come to Provo every year for the semiannual U.S. National Amateur Dancesport Championships, a three-day event held at the Marriott Center. The Thursday-through-Saturday event kept the center, literally, in a whirl.

Competitors of all ages participated, including pre-teen couples, some of whom look too young to apply their fake eyelashes or slick back their hair.

But when children take ballroom dance classes, they learn other important skills too, said Suzanna Quintana, whose son, Jordan Merzilli-Quintana, competed in the Junior Champion Standard event Friday night.

"It's taught (Jordan) everything about being a gentleman," said Quintana, who runs a ballroom dance studio with her husband in Sheridan, Wyo.

A variety of events take place in the BYU competition and dancers alternate between such steps as the elegant glide of the waltz and the provocative, hip-swinging Samba.

For 13-year-old Lindsay Arnold from Provo, Dancesport is an old tradition — she has competed so many times, she has lost count. She tried on her first pair of sleek, ballroom high heels as a 6-year-old, and said she loves everything about the dance form.

"You get to take the dance into your own perspective and do it with your own attitude," she said, her slim frame draped in a golden gown, a 2-inch-thick band of rhinestones encircling her neck.

The thrill of the competition pulls others, like Kira Tymon, onto the dance floor.

"I love the rush of competing and performing," said Tymon, a member of the UVSC ballroom team. "I love to dance for people."

Learning to dance, said Tymon, can lead to more benefits than a Dancesport trophy.

"You can use it your whole life," she said. "It's really fun to go to dances when you know how to dance and everyone stops to watch you."

Attracting attention certainly plays an important role in winning. Neon pink, flamboyant ruffles, sequins galore — dancers don whatever will draw the gaze of the judges.

And each dress is worth its weight in rhinestones.