John Malone

Ballroom – Latin – Swing – Country Western – Wedding

Part Time Instructor

 

 

If someone had told me that only 5 years after my last “Van Halen’s Monsters of Rock” concert I’d be dancing to Garth Brooks in boots and a cowboy hat, I’d have screamed “Nooo… That’s impossible!”  But alas, the heavy metal and classical CDs of my eighties heyday have made room for the ballroom and country music that now dominates my collection.

 Not only did I not dance growing up, I didn’t even go to my own prom.  I studied Tae Kwon Do for several years as a kid, which actually posed many similarities to dancing in respect to body movement and form.  Playing the guitar, as well as my background in the military (ROTC, Reserves and Active Duty), also developed skills that I readily depend on in my dance career today.  I started dancing at the U.T. Ballroom Dance Club when I was in college, and soon after joined the Austin Ballroom Dancers and The Heart of Texas Whip Club.  Growing up, most people I saw on the dance floor were “doing their own thing”, and I didn’t know how to do that.  I liked that partner dancing had a logic and structure to it – also, it’s a lot more fun as a “contact” sport.  For me, dancing taught me how to live in and enjoy the moment.  When studying martial arts, the zen aspects always eluded me; I was never able to totally clear my mind and become one with the universe.  Dancing taught me how to do that – it gives you this magical moment on the dance floor where there is nothing else in the world but you, your partner and the song that makes you one.  Then the next song starts, and you get to do it all over again!  Many people don’t know this, but I was the first National Champion on Go Dance’s teaching staff.  My partner Sherry Reynolds and I won the Fun Country (now ACDA) Division 2 National Championships in 2000.  Since then, we have won the UCWDC Showcase Title for the Crystal Age Division, and the World’s Championship.  That year, we were the first couple in UCWDC to compete in both the Classic and Showcase Division at the same time.  I have around 40 other awards and trophies collected from other partnerships, teams, pro-ams, jack-and-jills, strictly swing, and cabaret performances.  I still remember going to my first USABDA competition, where there were 9 U.S. colleges and 6 from England.  The English competitors were amazing at every dance – EXCEPT West Coast Swing.  It was the one dance that I could do that they could just not get right at all.  After that, I developed a love for the dance like no other I had tried.

 By day I do computer and network support, and am going to school to complete my MCSA Certification.  By night, I enjoy long walks on the beach… wait, wrong bio!  I really enjoy reading about a wide range of topics, and watching movies with a few good explosions and shoot outs; you know, the ones that don’t spend too much time on “feelings” and “relationships”.  I have no idea what I’d be doing if I wasn’t dancing.  It’s become so much a part of my life, it’s hard to imagine not having it.  It would certainly eliminate a huge number of friends I’ve made from all over the country, and I’d probably be very bored and lonely.  It’s funny, just saying that makes me want to go sign up for classes right now!  And I know many of you won’t believe this, but I really do have more jokes than you’ve heard in the group classes – I’m just not allowed to use those in class!