Dance club started as a fun way to fitness
Those looking to get into dancing should have a talk with Dance Haddonfield’s Chief Executive Rumba Officer.
Yes, her title sounds a little intimidating, but Terrie Murphy said the dance club is anything but.
The group meets every Sunday at Grace Church on Kings Highway. Each evening starts out with an intermediate dance lesson from 6 to 7 p.m., followed by a beginners’ lesson from 7 to 8 p.m., and is capped off with open dancing until 10:30 p.m. It’s something of a grass roots dance club, where the Chief Executive Rumba Officer acts as the nonprofit’s secretary, and sends out the newsletter and brings the food. Dance Haddonfield’s Chief Executive Cha Cha Officer Joe Murphy (no relation to Terrie), started the organization nine years ago simply as a place to exercise “Joe didn’t want to exercise,” Terrie said. “And this is the best way to exercise. It’s really good for you.”
Terrie and Joe both run the dance club, and Terrie works at Joe’s law firm. (The Cha Cha Officer couldn’t be reached, as he was learning new dances in Europe, while on vacation.)
“We actually throw the thing together every week,” she said. “We do all the advertising, the e-mail, and I send out a newsletter every week telling people what the dance is going to be.”
On July 5, Dance Haddonfield will be offering intermediate tango lessons at 6 p.m. followed by West Coast swing lessons an hour later. The following week sticks with tango lessons at 6 p.m., followed by salsa dancing. Through the years, Terrie said she has relearned a lot of the dances she knew as a child. Joe is a good dancer, having taken private lessons, Terrie said, but he doesn’t do the instruction. That task falls to professionals — Steve and Betty Culver, dance instructors at the Peppermint Dance Club, in Plymouth Meeting, Pa. Terrie explained that Joe attended one of their dances at Peppermint, and invited them to teach.
Newcomers are usually timid about getting onto the floor, Terrie said. But everybody starts out in a circle — and everybody rotates partners. Terrie said she was nervous about dancing for the first time at Dance Haddonfield, so she sent in a friend to size the place up.
“The first night they opened, I had a friend of mine check it out,” Terrie said. “He did and said, ‘Wow. It was really crowded.’ There were a couple hundred people. The next week, I went and took the lesson.”
She’s been going ever since — and it wound up netting her the coveted Chief Executive Rumba Officer designation.
The intermediate classes draw between 20 and 40 people, and the beginners’ classes are larger. And, yes, class sizes are bolstered depending on the status of the TV show “Dancing with the Stars,” Terrie said.
“It’s hard to say, because you never know who’s coming,” she said. “We can range from 60 to 90 people, maybe more, per week.
“You get to meet everybody, and dance with just about everybody. It’s a very safe place.”
Grace Church is located at 19 Kings Highway East, Haddonfield. Cost is $17 for 6 p.m. admission, and $12 for 7 p.m. admission. There are discounts available for USA Dance members. For more information, visit www.dancehaddonfield.org.
Yes, her title sounds a little intimidating, but Terrie Murphy said the dance club is anything but.
The group meets every Sunday at Grace Church on Kings Highway. Each evening starts out with an intermediate dance lesson from 6 to 7 p.m., followed by a beginners’ lesson from 7 to 8 p.m., and is capped off with open dancing until 10:30 p.m. It’s something of a grass roots dance club, where the Chief Executive Rumba Officer acts as the nonprofit’s secretary, and sends out the newsletter and brings the food. Dance Haddonfield’s Chief Executive Cha Cha Officer Joe Murphy (no relation to Terrie), started the organization nine years ago simply as a place to exercise “Joe didn’t want to exercise,” Terrie said. “And this is the best way to exercise. It’s really good for you.”
Terrie and Joe both run the dance club, and Terrie works at Joe’s law firm. (The Cha Cha Officer couldn’t be reached, as he was learning new dances in Europe, while on vacation.)
“We actually throw the thing together every week,” she said. “We do all the advertising, the e-mail, and I send out a newsletter every week telling people what the dance is going to be.”
On July 5, Dance Haddonfield will be offering intermediate tango lessons at 6 p.m. followed by West Coast swing lessons an hour later. The following week sticks with tango lessons at 6 p.m., followed by salsa dancing. Through the years, Terrie said she has relearned a lot of the dances she knew as a child. Joe is a good dancer, having taken private lessons, Terrie said, but he doesn’t do the instruction. That task falls to professionals — Steve and Betty Culver, dance instructors at the Peppermint Dance Club, in Plymouth Meeting, Pa. Terrie explained that Joe attended one of their dances at Peppermint, and invited them to teach.
Newcomers are usually timid about getting onto the floor, Terrie said. But everybody starts out in a circle — and everybody rotates partners. Terrie said she was nervous about dancing for the first time at Dance Haddonfield, so she sent in a friend to size the place up.
“The first night they opened, I had a friend of mine check it out,” Terrie said. “He did and said, ‘Wow. It was really crowded.’ There were a couple hundred people. The next week, I went and took the lesson.”
She’s been going ever since — and it wound up netting her the coveted Chief Executive Rumba Officer designation.
The intermediate classes draw between 20 and 40 people, and the beginners’ classes are larger. And, yes, class sizes are bolstered depending on the status of the TV show “Dancing with the Stars,” Terrie said.
“It’s hard to say, because you never know who’s coming,” she said. “We can range from 60 to 90 people, maybe more, per week.
“You get to meet everybody, and dance with just about everybody. It’s a very safe place.”
Grace Church is located at 19 Kings Highway East, Haddonfield. Cost is $17 for 6 p.m. admission, and $12 for 7 p.m. admission. There are discounts available for USA Dance members. For more information, visit www.dancehaddonfield.org.
