LAFITTE Dance
Club
A few years ago, I was frustrated with not being able to find, in
the New Jersey shore area, a public ballroom dance with a good floor
and real ballroom music.
So, I decided, since nobody was doing it, that I would have to rely
on myself and start my own dance. Two years ago when the KNIGHTS of
COLUMBUS hall in FREEHOLD, one of the best dance floors around became
available on Wednesday nights, I jumped on the opportunity.
Since I was not going to call the dance ALBERT'S dance, I had to
find a name that would sound good and could be used on other days, for
example for Saturday or Sunday dinner dances or for other purposes.
After some soul searching I decided to name it in memory of one of my
very distant ancestors, the pirate JEAN LAFITTE. I added the words "DANCE
CLUB" because it gave it a little more "cachet".
Now, I had the place and the name, I needed the music, my means
did not allow me to spend a fortune and from my experience I knew that
most DJ's did not have the faintest idea about proper ballroom music,
(furthermore ballroom dancers don't need to be pumped up by a DJ, they
don't have to be told which dance to do when a song is playing).
I decided that I would play the music I loved on a good sound system.
It has worked pretty well, learning from my mistakes (as soon as I would
see the majority of dancers not liking a song I would not keep it in
my line up). I now have a wide variety of songs; this permits me to
never play the same song twice ("unless I make a mistake")
and not to play the same song week after week at the same time.
So, If you like ballroom dancing as much as I do and want to spend
a nice evening in a friendly atmosphere, just drop by, you will not
be disappointed.
And remember if you just hear the name, it is LAFITTE not LEFT
FEET or LA FIT but...
"LAFITTE DANCE CLUB".
ALBERT C ROUX
