Havin' a ball(room)

Ballroom dancers stay in rhythm in tune-up for national competition

By Jessie Higgins

The Beaverton Valley Times, Jul 26, 2007, Updated Oct 30, 2009

Ballroom dancers Leo McArdle and Shawn Gardner will compete next month in national dance contests.

Jaime Valdez / Times Newspapers

ADVERTISEMENTS

Leo McArdle and Shawn Gardner are partners who try not to step on each other’s toes.

It’s very important that they don’t make any wrong moves.

McArdle and Gardner are ballroom dance partners on their way next month to national competition in Louisville, Ky.

During the past six months, the two have worked together and quickly begun to excel in the dance.

They earned first place in the bronze and silver categories of the Northwest regional ballroom dancing competition July 1 in Seattle. They also received a fourth-place honor in the competition's novice category.

Now they’re headed to Louisville’s Galt House Hotel Aug. 3 to 5 for the USA Dance 2007 National DanceSport Championships.

McArdle and Gardner have been working for months to prepare for the competition. They share in the same goal, but they come from different dancing backgrounds.

McArdle, 38, made his first attempt at dancing last September because his wife-to-be wanted to dance the waltz at their wedding.

After a taste of the ballroom dancing, McArdle was hooked.

But he wasn’t sure if he could physically handle the sport. He was afraid that he was not young enough to begin dancing, and that he was to big to be graceful enough.

McArdle finally decided to take the leap after watching the Dancing with the Stars television show that fall, and seeing retired Dallas Cowboys’ running Emmitt Smith sweep away the competition.

“Emmitt was a big guy and (his winning) opened the possibility of my competing,” McArdle said.

He joined a small studio and began dancing a few hours a week.

In January, he was introduced to Gardner as a potential competition partner. The match was a good fit.

“Our dancing kind of blossomed,” McArdle said.