their chance to dance

Every other Thursday, the Balaton Community Center is transformed into a dance hall for two-hour line dancing lessons

BY PER PETERSON

editor i f you happened to find yourself inside the Balaton Community Center on a Thursday night, you might be persuaded to think line dancing is making a comeback in Minnesota. Whether or not that’s true, there is no doubt that the art of line dancing is still appreciated by a certain crowd.

History tells us that line dancing is more a product of certain music of a given era than anything.

From its North American roots during the disco music era of the 1970s, to the post-”Urban Cowboy” adaptation to country music in the ‘80s, to 1990s versions — one born from the Spanish hit dance song “Macarena” — as well as Billy Ray Cyrus’ “Achy Breaky Heart,” line dancing has had its ups and downs in popularity. So it’s never really gone away; it’s simply not as popular or as romanticized as it once was — dancing and dance halls in general aren’t, much to the chagrin of dance-aholics who long for the days of dance.

Inside that community center every other Thursday night, members of that group of people who cherish the chance to prove that line dancing is indeed still a thing in southwest Minnesota.

The Balaton Area Community Foundation tested that notion back in January by starting a pilot line dancing program on the weeks when bingo wasn’t taking place.

“The idea was to give folks something to do that was really geared toward a more elderly population,” said Theresa Zaske, who sits on the Balaton Area Community Foundation Advisory Board. “Balaton was fortunate to get a grant from MNRAAA (Minnesota River Area Agency on Aging) … and one of the things we talked with them about was creating more activities for folks.”

Talk quickly turned into action, and the non-profit BACF rents space in the community center to hold line dancing lessons led by Eunice Herrick.

“The first week that we had it — I had no idea how many people would show up — and one of the people who showed up was Eunice, who teaches dance in Marshall and is involved in lots of line dancing,” Zaske said. “Otherwise it was going to be me begging someone who knew some line dances to teach. We have learned a lot of new dances — she’ll show us the moves, and then we’ll try them out, dance to a song and then move on to another dance.”

Herrick is no stranger to line dancing. She has learned more than 160 different line dances in the last 14 years after the death of her husband and continues to dance frequently in Sioux Falls where she sits on the Dakota Country Dance Club Board.

“When my husband was alive, we went to dances and danced every dance,” Herrick said. “Well then when your partner dies, you don’t have a partner. I spent about a year not doing much, and I ran into the group called Beginning Experience, and through there I met a group of people and we started going to singles dances. When I got home one night, I got on my iPad and I knew a line dance before I went to bed that night.”

Herrick, who works as a substitute paraprofessional when she’s not dancing or working on her yard, fondly recalls the era even before line dancing became a thing when mixers were popular. She says her favorite dance is and always will be the Jitterbug. Today, it’s mostly about line dancing, however.

“It’s fun, it’s good for building your memory, it gets you out and around — and with line dancing, you don’t need a partner,” Herrick said.

“It’s become kind of a lost art,” said Janice Ross, a longtime lover of line dancing and dancing in general. “There’s not enough bands, there’s not enough music anymore. Rent has gotten to be expensive, bands have gotten to be expensive. Then when COVID came, some people just quit, or found different activities closer to home than South Dakota.”

While line dancing has faded in Minnesota, South Dakota continues to be a hot spot in cities like Watertown, Sioux Falls and Brookings. Many of the places Herrick and her husband used to dance in have closed down.

“I do mostly the advanced classes in the Sioux Falls area,” she said. “I still go there frequently to learn the new dances to the new music.”

Being able to spread her joy of line dancing through teaching it also puts a smile on her face and more pep in her steps.

“I get so much enjoyment out of it that I want other people to enjoy doing it, too,” Herrick said. “I have found that there’s people that are just sitting at home because they don’t have a partner, but with this, that doesn’t matter. It’s good for socializing; you meet so many other people. It opens a whole new field of friendships.”

A total of six people showed up at the community center for the first line dancing class. Last Thursday, there were almost 20 learning under Herrick’s tutelage.

“It’s free, and the folks who are doing it enjoy it,” said Zaske. “It’s as much about the camaraderie as the dancing. The first time I did it, I was done for a couple of days — Eunice has a lot more energy than I have. It has been fun; people have come from Marshall, Slayton, from Balaton and in-between. I don’t think there is no other place nearby to do something like this. The only requirement in line dancing is to have fun.”