More view dance steps as key skill for business

As the dance band struck up a tune after dinner at a Smith Barney meeting in Florida recently, few had the confidence to step onto the floor.

Walt Katai wasn't among the fearful.

Katai, a senior vice president-investments with Smith Barney in Reno, leaped at the chance to put his ballroom dancing skills to use.

And dance teachers say increasing numbers of business people take social dance classes these days as a way to add one more skill they can use in business settings.

At Truckee Meadows Community College, for instance, a class in basic ballroom dancing typically draws at least half its enrollment from business people.

"They want to make sure they come across as well-rounded," says teacher Tim Renner.

"It's a way they can show social proficiency."

The skill is especially important for corporate executives and others who know that all eyes are on them while they're on the dance floor, says Fred Suhr, who owns Let's Dance Studio in Sparks with his wife, Elizabeth.

"It's a big, big benefit, especially for people in sales," he says.

"If you can waltz or cha-cha with a customer, you have their attention right away."

Ballroom dancing, Katai says, provides a way of chatting with people that's unlike any other setting.

"It's a way to engage people," he says.

"It's so much friendlier."

Confidence on the dance floor doesn't take years to master.

Renner's classes, which usually run a couple of months, teach four basic steps the waltz, the cha-cha, the West Coast swing and a country swing that will get students through most social situations.

Once they've completed a basic course such as that offered at TMCC, students who want to cut a more dashing figure on the dance floor head for private studios such as Let's Dance.

Suhr says many of the executive students at Let's Dance opt for private lessons.

"We have lots of lawyers taking private lessons even a judge and a lot of doctors, too," he says.

Along with corporate considerations, another factor driving many executives to the dance studio is an upcoming wedding of a daughter - an event that will put the father of the bride in the spotlight on the dance floor.

Sadly, Katai and Renner say, the opportunities to further practice ballroom dance skills are limited in the Truckee Meadows as few nightclubs other than those devoted to country music offer opportunities for structured dance.

While students gain confidence from learning dance steps, Renner says it's just as important that they learn the etiquette of the dance floor.

The challenges that Renner faces aren't unlike those of a teacher who chaperones a seventh-grade mixer and struggles to get boys onto the dance floor.

"Everyone learns at a different rate," he says, choosing his words carefully.

"In most aspects, the ladies catch on faster."

To build the confidence of men, he seeks to keep his classes light-hearted, seeks to present each concept in at least four different ways, and strongly encourages students even those attending with a spouse to dance with a variety with partners.

That's important, he said, in learning a skill forgotten in the free-form dancing of the last half century how to lead and how to follow a lead.

Unlike many men, Katai didn't need much coaxing to learn how to dance.

Growing up in the Midwest, he was inspired by his parents "They were good dancers, the life of the party" as well as one of the greatest dancers of them all.

"I watched Fred Astaire movies," Katai says, "and I always thought what a cool thing that was."