EMARK STERKEL|ODESSA AMERICAN

Ray and Ronnie Reynosa demonstrate a Turkish tile move while teaching the Cha-Cha during an intermediate class Thursday at the Love to Dance Studio in Odessa. Students watching are Daniela Solis, left, and Christina Lopez.

DANCE CARD

>> Tuesdays: 7 p.m. to 9 p.m.: beginning level class.

>> Wednesdays: 7 p.m.: advanced and individual instruction.

>> Thursdays: 7 p.m. to 9 p.m.: intermediate class.

>> Fridays:   7 p.m.: practice night.

>> Saturdays: workshops.

>> Dance classes: swing and tango; cha-cha and waltz; salsa and rumba; merengue and fox trot.

>> One day per week for four weeks: $35 per person; $55 per couple.

>> Two days per week for four weeks: $50 per person; $75 per couple.

Love to

BY ELIZABETH YORK

AS PUBLISHED IN THE ODESSA AMERICAN

SUNDAY, NOVEMBER 13, 2005, PG 1B

Step aside two-step; hold up hip-hop.

Evenings on the northeast side of Odessa just got a little more interesting. Couples dancing to Afro-Cuban rhythms and European euphonies fill the Love To Dance Studio several times per week.  

The West Texas studio is stage to Latin and ballroom dances.

Odessans Ray and Ronnie Reynosa opened the studio this summer (2005). The couple has been dancing for about seven years.

They attended classes in Midland, workshops around the state and taught themselves through videos. But when it came down to it, they needed a dance studio in Odessa to practice and perform. "That’s basically why we started, because there was not a (partners) studio in Odessa," Ronnie Reynosa said.

In 2004, the Reynosas began planning for a studio. Soon friends and several businesses pitched in dollars to buy items like mirrors and an armoire for the CD player. "Family, friends — lots of friends helped," Ray Reynosa said. The couple opened a location in July on West County Road to see if there was an interest. There was. "The first day we had five students, the second day 20," Ray Reynosa said.

  That’s when the couple found the studio on JBS Parkway. The studio was once home to Dance Connection, which relocated to another Odessa location. The studio had been out of use for several years. The ample space and wooden floor were perfect, and the Reynosas opened the new location in September. They began teaching a blend of eight Latin and ballroom dances several nights per week.

"We had eight dances, and we wanted to teach in a reasonable amount of time," Ronnie Reynosa said. "We noticed that four were fast and four were more calm." The resulting format is a combination of one hour of upbeat dance followed by one hour of slower-paced dance. The schedule allows the Reynosas to focus on two dances per week, and eight dances per month.

The blend works well, Ronnie Reynosa said. "I love the Latin stuff; he likes the ballroom," Ronnie Reynosa said. "I guess because he has no rhythm," she said with a laugh. Ronnie Reynosa works at the Odessa American and Ray Reynosa works for the City of Odessa. Although they work full-time jobs during the day then dance full-time in the evenings, the Reynosas say all the effort is worth it. "It’s a good exhaustion," Ray Reynosa said.

"You go home tired, but we’re happy." Their approximately 30 regular students and 120 occasional students want the Reynosas to keep the studio going, Ronnie Reynosa said. Odessan Ken Rushing began attending classes the first day the studio opened. His dance partner Janet Harwell began attending several weeks after it opened. Before Love To Dance opened, neither Rushing nor Harwell went to a studio. "This is

dance?

MARK STERKEL|ODESSA AMERICAN 

Dance instructor Ray Reynosa, right, leads Sylvia Hernandez during an intermediate dance class Thursday evening at the Love to Dance Studio in Odessa. The studio teaches ballroom and Latin dancing from beginning to advanced.

‘country’ country," Harwell said. "There was no place for ballroom." Now both dancers can’t get enough ballroom and Latin dance. They frequent the studio several times per week. "It’s great exercise; it’s good camaraderie," Harwell said. "This has gotten to be like a family."

Fern Eudy has attended classes at the studio for almost two months. At 83, Eudy also line dances and square dances at Senior Citizens Center in Odessa. "My husband, Mike, passed away four years ago," Eudy said. "He didn’t dance. After he passed away, I needed something to do." And Eudy hasn’t slowed down since. She tied for first place in the dancing contest at the studio’s Halloween party.  "I love to dance. I’m having fun. It keeps me out of the house," Eudy said.

Recent high school graduates to retirees say they like going to the studio. Normally dance classes have a male minority, but usually men outnumber the women at Love To Dance, Ronnie Reynosa said.   It is their comfortable style and enthusiasm for students that make the Reynosas good instructors, said Stacey Coleman, who has been coming for two months with her boyfriend Josh Medrano. "They break it down for you; they really work with you," Coleman said. "They’re not all over you because you didn’t get it."

For retired couple Eliseo and Bertha Garcia, dancing is a fountain of youth. The Garcias said they had not danced in years until the Odessa studio opened. "We started this thinking, ‘This is our dream,’ and we found out we’re not alone in this," Ronnie Reynosa said.

JTHE FACTS

>> Love To Dance Studio opened this

summer (2005).

>> The studio teaches

 American-style ballroom

 and Latin dances.

>> Located at

2817 JBS Pkwy.,

Suite E-1 in

Park Place

shopping center.

>> For information,

call 349-1472,

e-mail

dancegram@

hotmail.com or visit

www.lovetodance

studio.com.