Ballroom Dance Club & International Folk Dance Club to host Hollywood Movie Magic Ball to teach dancing from classic films

There was a time in American culture when watching stars dance was as easy as going to the local movie theater and seeing Clark Gable and Vivien Leigh do the Virginia reel.

On Saturday night, beginning at 8, the Ballroom Dance Club & International Folk Dance Club, along with support from other on-campus dance-related groups, look to rekindle that former time with their annual Hollywood Movie Magic Ball.

The event was co-founded six years ago by James Zimmer and Cynthia Harper, a pair of UCLA alumni and past presidents of the Ballroom Dance Club & International Folk Dance Club.

While the Movie Magic Ball has previously been held in Powell Library, this year’s version will be housed in Kerckhoff Grand Salon. Zimmer said that the change in venue will make for a more intimate setting, especially considering this year’s event’s special guest, Dr. Demento, local radio host and member of the National Radio Hall of Fame.

Demento, a UCLA alumnus who received his master’s in ethnomusicology, will be playing songs from both his radio career and the eras from which the night’s dances originate.

Even though Dr. Demento’s recognized area of expertise is in a field other than dancing, Ballroom Dance Club members expect his knowledge of the music history to complement the different dance styles that will be on display.

The Ballroom Dance Club & International Folk Dance Club help combine elements from a number of their other themed dance nights while taking the visual components from Hollywood films and making them a more personal experience.

“Seeing dancing in a movie and then doing it yourself really makes it come alive,” Harper said. “There’s something about that movement that makes it relevant, even today.”

Among the different styles on display will be dance numbers from the musicals of Gene Kelly, Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers.

Instructors will also give lessons on dances from films like “Gone with the Wind” and “The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse,” movies that are not necessarily considered musicals but still have memorable dance sequences.

This year’s Movie Magic Ball will be a new experience for Misha Agunos, a first-year pre-psychobiology student and current president of the Ballroom Dance Club.

Although the group aims to expose the campus to a wide variety of dance styles, Agunos pointed out that sometimes the best way to introduce new dance material is through songs and films that are already well-known.

“To some people, dancing can be unfamiliar,” Agunos said. “It makes people feel more comfortable if you bring in songs and music that they probably know.”

In addition to providing guests the opportunity to develop a repertoire of cinematic dancing, Zimmer noted that, by providing a friendly and communal atmosphere, attendees of the clubs’ weekly meetings will also have the opportunity to try out some tango, salsa and swing moves that they have learned over the course of previous quarters.

Harper explained that although both graduate and undergraduate students attend this and other events put on by the Ballroom Dance Club & International Folk Dance Club, alumni are usually represented as well.

“Some students are so busy as students that when they have a break they come back,” Harper said. “I’ve seen crumpled-up flyers they’ve been holding for five years and hear them saying “˜Now I have time!'”

For a city and campus for which Hollywood is more of a backyard than an idea, the club hopes to bring both an informative and celebratory aspect to the guests’ movie-watching backgrounds, no matter their ages.

“I feel like it’s an experience that everyone deserves to have,” Agunos said. “It’s something that should be on people’s bucket list.”