Dancing away winter blues at NCCC

WINSTED — It’s still cold outside, but there is plenty of hot dancing once a month at Northwestern Connecticut Community College’s Greenwoods Hall.Thirty people from Winsted and other towns took part in the first ballroom dance class of the year on Friday, Jan. 25, learning the waltz, foxtrot, swing, tango, rumba and cha-cha.The classes are taught in a noncompetitive atmosphere by co-instructors Damian Vincent and Janice Jacobsen.“We always start our classes with the one-step to let students get comfortable with dancing,” Vincent said. “Then we get into the waltz and go from there.”Despite weather forecasts that called for snowy weather, husband and wife Ed Stempel and Joan Pavlinsky came from Goshen to take part in the first class on Jan. 25.“We’ve taken these classes for years, and it’s one of our favorite activities that we both enjoy together,” Pavlinsky said. “We also love ballroom music.”Vincent plays ballroom music from the 1930s through the 1950s for the class, and said he hopes new students will continue to come this semester.“I am always hopeful that new people keep coming to the classes as we go on,” he said. “That’s the whole spirit of it, to get as many people involved as possible.”The next class will be held at Greenwoods Hall on Friday, Feb. 8, at 7 p.m.Each class is $10 and free to college students and seniors 62 years and older.For more information call Vincent at 860-379-7327.