THE COMPANY- Mandeville Ballroom
Mandeville Ballroom hosted its first dance March 2006. It all started with a few people, a borrowed sound system, and several CDs worth of great~We continue to strive for excellence in offering weekly dance lessons in American style social dances-
~Swing dance, Ballroom dances(Waltz, Tango, Foxtrot), Latin Dances (Salsa, Merengue, Rumba, Cha Cha).
~We help aspiring dancers to transform into confident dancers, so they can enjoy dancing to many songs in many different situations.
~We offer a less expensive, healthier alternative to watching a weekly movie- social dance parties.
~We offer a beautiful facility to dancers who need a place to practice, or for instructors who need a place to teach their students.
We constantly strive to build a warm and friendly, skilled dance community on the Northshore.
YOUR INSTRUCTOR- Aaron
As a life-long Mandeville resident, Aaron played soccer in the Mandeville Soccer Club and earned a black belt at Mandeville Karate Training Center.
Aaron graduated in December 2005 from Southeastern Louisiana University (SLU) with a B.A. in Entrepreneurship,
then began working full-time for Latter & Blum Realtors, inc. He soon left Latter and Bloom to focus his attention on sharing his passion by starting Mandeville Ballroom.
Aaron currently runs the studio and works part time, meeting audio visual needs. His story is like many young men: shy from the beginnning, always avoided social situations, especially dancing. But as he tells it, a series of events drastically changed his life:
"I began dancing as a Sophomore in college. A friend of mine invited me to a surprise birthday party for a mutual friend. He insisted that there would be a Swing Dance
competition and that I would be competing. Of course, I refused. After a while, he relented. Having talked to his fellow party organizers,
he decided it would be best to have a Swing Dance performance at the party (I was excused). So, the performance team, having never danced before hatsoever, went online to "learn" how to dance.
They came up with a very clever exhibition, complete with a fight scene. The only problem was the dancing. It was attrocious! It was nothing like any Swing I'd ever seen.
So I felt compelled to find out what Swing actually was. Coincidentally (or Providencially) A family friend told me that her daughter
taught dancing locally, and kept insisting that I take classes. I arrived to my first class and stayed for two hours that night! I immediately fell in love with the different dances and the social freedom
they afforded me. I felt so empowered and confident!"
Looking for a way to practice more with others of like mind, Aaron subsequently began the Southeastern Swing Dance Club. Once the local chapter
of the United States Amateur Ballroom Dancers' Association (USABDA) caught wind of the SDC, Aaron recruited on the board of directors. Additionally, he assisted with the Highschool dance clubs (MHS, FHS).
