Dance instructor Alice Marsh of Marsh Dance Studio (far right) instructing students on how to line dance at Flying X Saloon. Photo by Phaedra Veronique
LAKE HAVASU CITY – It’s time to dance and sway your way into the holiday season with lessons from the Marsh Dance Studio. Owned by highly trained performer Alice Marsh, the Lake Havasu dance instructor has been teaching the community how to dance to the beat for 53 years.
As a teen, Marsh took dance courses from two very prestigious dance studios. Arthur Murray International and Fred Astaire Studios in Phoenix, Arizona. At Fred Astaire Studios, the then 13-year-old, was caught off guard when she came to the realization that she had been dancing with a living legend. Previously experiencing several lessons from her dance teacher, Marsh eventually learned that her instructor was the famed choreographer and dancer Fred Astaire.
In later years, Marsh was accepted into Northern Arizona University where she studied dance. Her passion and dedication lead to an opportunity to study the art form abroad in Vienna, Austria. From ballroom, swing, clogging, and line dancing, Marsh learned how to do them all over several decades. With line dancing in particular, the teacher remembers this style of dance began to gain its popularity with the release of the 1980 film Urban Cowboy starring Debra Winger and Hollywood heart throb John Travlota. A film that Marsh says, she starred in as an extra.
The instructor also explained that line dancing became even more mainstream with the heightened success of country music star Garth Brooks in the 1990s. She remembers the packed country dance halls back then filled with men and women decked out in western gear dancing the night away.
Marsh shared having been involved in three major car accidents which many may think would debilitate her movement and love of dance.
Instead, the accidents empowered the instructor to teach people with impairments to learn how to glide and move about the dance floor. “Even if you feel like you have two left feet, you can still learn how to dance,” Marsh said.
She has previously taught many people with disabilities such as the visually and hearing impaired. In the past, the dance instructor provided lessons at Lake Havasu’s Mohave Community College. Marsh will never forget the smiles on her student’s faces when they finally caught on to a new dance move. Her favorite is watching beginners grow and seeing couples connecting while taking her instruction.
If you’re entertaining family and friends this season, stop by and check out the lessons. Classes are available now for the ultimate line dancing experience four days out of the week for youths and adults at only $6.
Lessons are available to the public at the Marsh’s home Dance Studio Mondays and Wednesdays. The studio’s Monday classes are for beginners and intermediate students from 1 to 2 p.m. Wednesdays is the day where students range from beginners, intermediate, and advanced from 8:30 a.m. to 8 p.m. Monday and Wednesday classes can be taken at 4195 Challenger Dr. in Lake Havasu.
You don’t always have to take all your lessons at the studio. Marsh teaches ongoing line dancing at two of Havasu’s most popular western themed venues. Additional weekly classes take place every other Tuesday at Flying X Saloon from 4 to 6 p.m. and every Thursday at Mustang Sallys for partners and singles from 5 to 8 p.m.
For more information about upcoming classes, you can call the Marsh Dance Studio at 928-855-0798, or by emailing them at a.marshdancer@yahoo.com. Grab your cowboy or cowgirl hat and dance to the beats while learning the smooth moves of line dancing.
Phaedra Veronique
