Ballroom bound — Dance camp is more popular than ever, pulling kids in as young as 8

LAYTON — Matthew Richards, 11, plays both baseball and soccer. He can also dance a mean cha-cha, and of all the sports he's played, he says ballroom dancing is not only the most challenging but the most fun.

Hit TV shows like "So You Think You Can Dance?" and "Dancing With the Stars" have infused children and teens with more interest in ballroom dance — something that kids may have otherwise considered boring.

More than 40 students at East Layton Elementary last week rock-stepped and sweated their way through five days of a ballroom dance camp, where students as young as 8 years old learned a handful of ballroom dances.

And if you ask them, there is nothing "uncool" about it.

Molly Bishop, 8, first got the dancing bug while watching "Dancing With the Stars" and is proud of her early prediction that Apollo Ohno would win on the show.

"Apollo is my favorite, the first time I saw him dance I just knew ... this is probably my dream to be on a ballroom dance team and do competitions," Bishop said, whose favorite dance is "clearly the pase doble."

Gina Wescott, a parent at the school who has a background in ballroom dance, created two ballroom dance teams at East Layton Elementary last year. One of them was a competition team. The students met before school for practice.

Students competed in two competitions last year in Orem and at Brigham Young University, and they took first place at both.

"I want to give them a good introduction and experience to ballroom dancing so they know what it is, enjoy it and and then will want to continue," Wescott said.

But it's not just triple-steps and cha-chas. Wescott makes sure the students are well versed in etiquette in dealing with the opposite sex.

While many students in late elementary school shy away from the opposite sex because of the "cooties" that they will no doubt give them, the ballroom students don't bat an eye at the "cuddle position" or holding hands.

Wescott teaches the students early on that there are no "ughs" or "yucks" when partnered up with someone.

When dancing, you are to talk to your partner, get to know them, and you cannot ignore them, according to fifth-grader Cherokee Copenhaver.

"(Gina) sets really high standards from the beginning, and the kids learn to have respect for each other ... she teaches them to interact at a positive level," said Tiffany Copenhaver, Cherokee's mom.