Has anyone on this board been to dance halls or ballrooms anywhere in Italy where locals, as well as tourists, go to dance socially? <BR><BR>Not club or solo dancing...I'm thinking of the 30 to 50 age range, partner dancing, with dances ranging from the Waltz and Foxtrot to the Rumba, Mambo, Cha Cha, and Swing.

Topping for the morning surfers.

I never have been but there must be! read a wonderful book "Dances with Luigi" by paul Petrocelli...he talks about danes in Rome , I think he may even had said where!

This type of dancing is generally easier to find in Europe than in the U.S., with active dance clubs (at which visitors are welcome, though tourists are not generally prominent in the mix) in lots of places, even smaller towns. I've not been in Italy, but found them easy to come by in Germany. <BR><BR>Do you know where you'll be in Italy? A quick look at web sites found quite a few possibilities, so if you can narrow the search a bit I can be of more help. Most of the sites are in Italian, but I can help you navigate. <BR><BR>Argentinian tango is big in Europe right now, as are other types of latin dance. Note that Europeans often do a slightly different version of standards like waltz and foxtrot (not difficult to follow the lead if you're female, just be careful). Also note that the term "tea dance" has been largely adopted by gays (which is fine, but a bit disconcerting if you were expecting that scene), though it's still used for traditional afternoon dances as well (also called "thes dansants").

Thanks Jody, for the book recommendation. Thanks Therese, too, for your generous answer.<BR><BR>Before I posted here I used a search engine and turned up many international sites. And Germany, by far, had the most links. For Italy, I found only a couple of pages for dance halls around Torino but I won't be up there. There was also a page for a Samba school but it was last updated in 1998. This was at Dancesport.uk.com.<BR><BR>I am staying one week in Firenze (sans automobile) and the second week (con auto) is up for grabs. There is no place in Italy that I wouldn't want to see so if I find a promising venue, and it's reasonably close to Firenze (from where I'll be departing), I just might try to drop in. <BR><BR>I dance in the Washington, D.C., area and many people at the ballrooms here are from countries around the world. Here, my mono lingual handicap means almost nothing to the person-to-person communication that takes place on the dance floor. That's what got me thinking it would be great to dance socially in a foreign (to me) country; overcome some cultural barriers while experiencing more of the local scene and possibly making some new friends.<BR><BR>Will keep searching. Thanks again to the both of you.

Found a site for you in Firenze that should be of some help. It lists dances and lessons in both Italian and English. The site is dedicated to latin dance and is found at:<BR><BR>http://www.salsapower.com/cities/italy/firenze.htm<BR><BR>Last updated this month.<BR><BR>There's an email link for a guy named Marco Gelli, described on the site as the "local correspondent". If I were you I'd go ahead and email him directly and describe what you're looking for. As you know, dancers in an area tend to know the different options even if they don't use them all.

any swing dancing in Rome or naples?

Therese,<BR><BR>Thanks for finding that link; really nice of you to search for it. I'll check out the site over the weekend. If I find any others I'll post to this message, in case anyone else is interested. Happy dancing this weekend. <BR><BR>Gabriela,<BR><BR>I think you could probably dance Swing anywhere they play rhythym and blues or rock, like small clubs or bars. It's considered a "rhythm" dance and is danced more or less in place -- as opposed to the "smooth" dances (the ones where the couples progress around the perimeter of the dance floor, such as Waltz, [American] Tango, Foxtrot, Sway, etc.). These dances require a larger dance floor. Have a great time.