Barb arrived in Fairbanks with her family in 1970, when her parents decided to bring their heating & sheet metal business from a small town in Washington State to Alaska. Barb came to the Ballroom Dance Club of Fairbanks in early 2010 with the hope of learning how to dance. Her love for dance has grown as has her friendship with the club. She has two amazing daughters, Crisi and Mandi along with 6 beautiful granddaughters. She is passionate about her family’s well-being and places them above all else.
Stan’s first memory of dancing was standing on his mother’s toes learning the waltz box step in the kitchen. He went on to do an Irish Jig for 6th grade talent show and won first place with his rag sock monkey entry at a Junior High sock hop. In college it was rock and roll and square dancing with Calico and Boots square dance club. In Fairbanks, he started with folk dancing before picking up Contra dancing and eventually arriving at ballroom dancing. If asked to pick his favorite dance, he has a hard time answering because his love of the art is absolute.
My husband and I started dancing because our oldest child was getting married and we wanted to not look awkward on the dance floor. We took a basic Four-Count Swing class over and over again and we were hooked….
We moved on to learn Country Two-Step because we love that country twang. For a change of pace, we tried beginning Ballroom Waltz and Foxtrot, which was an excellent foundation to move us onto to Swings, Cha-Cha and Salsa. All of these classes we took several times and discovered that with each repeat class we became more proficient.
We will be enrolling in Advanced Waltz and West Coast this fall. Don’t be surprised if you see us in a class we have already taken because they are fun to repeat, less expensive and you always learn something new the second or third time around. We enjoy the camaraderie of the many friends we’ve made in classes. It doesn’t matter what dance event we go to, we always find dance friends. We are delighted we persevered through those first few awkward classes so that we can now experience the friendship of the dancing community and the joy of dancing.
