Dance

I can't dance. Not a lick. But that's not always been the case. As a student at Lindbergh Elementary School in Costa Mesa from 1952-56, we received square dance and social dance lessons on rainy afternoons. I discovered that I enjoyed the sensation of holding a girl in my arms. When I attended Everett A. Rea Junior High School from 1956-58, I took regular social dance lessons — and became rather adept. I learned all the popular moves from swing and waltz to foxtrot and cha-cha.

Young Chang Bob Fosse's dance moves changed the rules. They go against everything you're taught in classic ballet training, where all the muscles are supposed to turn out. "Mr. Fosse's work turns in the knees, the back. The hips get way turned in," said Lynn Sterling, a dancer with "Fosse," now at the Orange County Performing Arts Center. "That's all because Mr. Fosse was never really happy with the body he was given -- he had bowed legs, so he did everything turned in, which looks really great."

Though the Balboa was a very popular dance in his youth, Clint Holland learned the step only recently. At 84 years old, the Orange County resident spends three or four days each week on the dance floor. Besides the dance classes he attends at various local senior centers, Holland is at the Avant Garde Ballroom in Newport Beach every Sunday for swing dance lessons offered by The Orange County Swing Dance Club. Though he's "not quite up to" all of the dances, he usually stays for three of the four classes offered, which include beginning swing and intermediate Balboa.

Misty May-Treanor, a former Newport Harbor High standout and an Olympic gold medalist, appeared on the conclusion of Monday’s “Dancing With the Stars” show on crutches and with a cast on her left leg to announce she will no longer be on the popular dancing competition. May-Treanor, the beach volleyball legend, was practicing the jive on the show’s ballroom set when she ruptured her left Achilles’ tendon. “I heard a pop,” May-Treanor said.

Thanks to Angelina "Joy" Emanuele, students at Sonora Elementary School can earn experience as dancers and gymnasts ? not to mention music critics. Emanuele, who teaches dance and exercise to students around Southern California, leads an exercise class every Monday at Sonora for second- and third-graders. The students, who are practicing for a show at the school in June, dance to Emanuele's original recordings, which she writes and sings herself. Of course, to stay in touch with modern youth, she sometimes tests her works on the students and asks for input.

Newport Beach police are looking for a man who entered an unlocked Corona del Mar apartment, performed a dance and groped the owner before he left. At about 10 a.m. Sunday, a man appearing to be in his mid-30s entered an apartment in the 1700 block of Marguerite Avenue. The man told the resident he was on a scavenger hunt and had to dance for her. When he finished, he placed his hands on her buttocks before running away. Police said he fled after hearing someone else approaching in the house.

Luis Pena Mark O'Donnell is the Lord in Michael Flatley's "Lord of the Dance," which is showing at the Orange County Performing Arts Center through Saturday. O'Donnell comes from Glasgow, Scotland, where he began to perform in Irish dance as a hobby when he was only 6. He has competed in several competitions and has won the all-Scotland and all-Ireland titles for dance. When he was 17, "Lord of the Dance" was showing in O'Donnell hometown.

Jeff Benson While many Newport-Mesa students were catching up on sleep, shopping or just "hangin' out" over the holiday, Corona del Mar High School's "Orchesis" dance program was busy preparing for its biggest annual shows. Instead of a day off, the girls rehearsed synchronized dance steps and learned about staging, props and the different lights used in their performances. "We light every number in the show and we have a lighting designer that teaches us the lighting that goes along with each movement," said Orchesis co-president Cassidy Preston, 17. Orchesis will perform at 7 p.m. Thursday through Saturday at Huntington Beach High School.

Young Chang When asked why he loves to dance, 59-year old Bill McMurray sounds indignant: "You get to hold a girl! C'mon now!" Tonight he is holding his wife of almost two years, Mary McMurray. Their hotspots are senior centers around the county. Things are different now from the way people grooved when he was a teen. The Lake Forest resident danced on rollerskates back then. Today he's making do with the Costa Mesa Senior Center and the soles of his feet.

Long, boring hours sitting in high-backed chairs, listening to politicians drone on, one after another. News conferences with plenty of visual charts for the cameras. Fundraising lunches, complete with rubbery chicken. Is that possibly all that goes on in Sacramento? Or is there something else? Assemblymen dancing, maybe? Elected officials racing past each other in Capitol building hallways? Politicians retreating to their offices after a long day of work to get a bit more work done?

How many human bodies does it take to make an elephant? For a team of Pilobolus dancers, the answer — five — lies within their collective improvisation. At 8 p.m. on May 17 through 19, Pilobolus will perform a mixed repertory at the Irvine Barclay Theatre as part of the venue's contemporary dance series. To date, Pilobolus has produced more than 100 choreographic works. The troupe's Barclay program will consist of five pieces that span 11 years: "Gnomen" (1997), "All Is Not Lost" (2011)

Cuban heartthrob William Levy, one of the dancers on the current season ofABC's"Dancing With The Stars," was not there. He was, however, overshadowed by Newport's Brett Lawrence , voted "Best Male Dancer" at the recent 2012 Assistance League of Newport-Mesa's major fundraising event, billed as "Dancing for Tomorrow's Stars. " Lawrence, the tall lanky, cowboy son of the much-loved Jeannie Lawrence , had all the ladies' hearts aflutter in the audience. The competition was serious.

The competition might have been local, but Orange Coast College's cheer and dance walked away with 2012 national titles. OCC's cheerleading and dance teams won first place in March at the USA Collegiate Cheerleading and Dance National Championships at the Anaheim Convention Center. Coach Mike Reynolds was also honored by the Cheerpros State Championships earlier this year as the California Collegiate Coach of the Year. The cheer and dance teams have won more than 72 collegiate titles in 17 years.

Superwoman, Spider-Man and Captain America are not your typical characters in a dance number, but that's exactly what Corona del Mar High School's Orchesis dance team is presenting at its upcoming show, "Tales of the Incredible Super Orch: Dancing in a Comic World. " The dancers gave a preview of their comic book themed show Thursday evening at Fashion Island's Atrium Courts in an effort to garner community interest and raise money. They've been hard at work since August - practicing nearly everyday and even reading comic books and working to understand character orgins - to bring the Hulk, Superwoman, Captain America, Catwoman and more to the stage during a 20-piece performance featuring everything from jazz and lyrical numbers to ballet, tap and modern dances.

The Little Angels Children's Folk Ballet of Korea are the South Korean people's roving goodwill ambassadors. On Wednesday night, before a sold-out Segerstrom Hall in Costa Mesa, the 32 members of the troupe's present-day generation of child performers brought their message of peace to Orange County, delighting their audience with a performance that featured a repertoire of Korean folk dances. During the two-hour show, the children - mostly girls ranging from 9 to 15 years old - changed in and out of an array of brilliantly colored costumes.

Dance enthusiasts should head down to Fashion Island on Thursday night for an evening of dance, food and shopping. Corona del Mar High School's Orchesis Dance Company is hosting "You Dine ... We Dance" from 5 to 9 p.m. Thursday in Fashion Island's Atrium Court. The company's 23 members will perform throughout the evening to raise awareness for its annual show in March and raise money for the program. Participating Atrium Court restaurants and Barnes & Noble will donate 15% to 20% of the night's proceeds to Orchesis when presented with the "You Dine...

Local nonprofits are looking for prom dresses to give at-risk teens the high school dance experience they could never afford. Women Helping Women has partnered with Girls Inc. of Orange County and the Orangewood Children's Foundation for the fifth annual Belle of the Ball on March 24 at Orange Coast College. The all-day event in Costa Mesa aims to empower at-risk teens with speakers, workshops, and an evening dress and accessories to wear to their high school prom. "Belle of the Ball is an extremely memorable day for the students," said Brateil Aghasi, associate director of Women Helping Women.

"Once I get you up there where the air is rarified We'll just glide, starry-eyed Once I get you up there I'll be holding you so near You may hear all the angels cheer 'cause we're together. " - Frank Sinatra, "Come Fly Away" * The creative pairing behind the hit Broadway dance sensation "Come Fly Away" may just be made in heaven. "Come Fly Away" pairs the music of Old Blue Eyes himself with the choreography of Tony Award-winner Twyla Tharp.

COSTA MESA - Alexandria Kessinger wasn't a natural-born dancer, despite having an instructor for a mother. But at age 4 she decided she would dance. And that was that. "There's no holding her back," said Paula Kessinger, Alexandria's mother and owner of the Costa Mesa-based West Coast School of the Arts. Alexandria, 17, won three national dance competitions this year, and was named Dancer of the Year by one of the competitions. She is flying to Australia next month to represent the U.S. in the nine-day Showcase Dance Championship.

NEWPORT BEACH - For young dancers, auditioning for the high school dance company can be intimidating. Cami Marseilles, the director for Corona del Mar School's Orchesis Dance Company, says it doesn't have to be that way. Marseilles held a dance camp Saturday for K-6 students interested in trying new dance styles and joining Orchesis when they get older. "We're really excited that you guys are here because we love to share Orchesis with the community," Marseilles told parents as they packed into the campus' dance studio to see their children perform a short jazz, hip hop and musical theater routine.