This article may be expanded with text translated from the corresponding article in the German Wikipedia. (November 2010) Don't speak German? Click here to read a machine-translated version of the German article. Click [show] on the right to review important translation instructions before translating. Google's machine translation is a useful starting point for translations, but translators must revise errors as necessary and confirm that the translation is accurate, rather than simply copy-pasting machine-translated text into English Wikipedia. Do not translate text that appears unreliable or low-quality. If possible, verify the text with references provided in the foreign-language article. After translating, {{Translated|de|Ballsaal}} must be added to the talk page to ensure copyright compliance. For more guidance, see Wikipedia:Translation.

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An opulent ballroom at the Catherine Palace near St. Petersburg, Russia

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Ballrooms

A ballroom is a large room inside a building, the designated purpose of which is holding formal dances called balls. Traditionally, most balls were held in private residences; many mansions contain one or more ballrooms. In other large houses, a large room such as the main drawing room, long gallery, or hall may double as a ballroom, but a good ballroom should have the right type of flooring, such as hardwood flooring or stone flooring (usually marble).

Ballrooms are generally quite large, and may have ceilings higher than other rooms in the same building. The large amount of space for dancing, as well as the highly formal tone of events have given rise to ballroom dancing. The largest balls are now nearly always held in public buildings, and many hotels have a ballroom. They are also designed large to help the sound of orchestras carry well throughout the whole room.

A special case is the annual Vienna Opera Ball, where, just for one night, the auditorium of the Vienna State Opera is turned into a large ballroom. On the eve of the event, the rows of seats are removed from the stalls, and a new floor, level with the stage, is built.

List of hardwood floor ballrooms[link]

These lists should only include ballrooms with permanent wood floors. The size of the floor should only include the largest contiguous area without obstructions. The web sites and materials about some places add up multiple spaces, rooms, and balconies, and floors. However, this list ranks ballrooms based on the size of one single open space with a hardwood floor.

See also[link]

• Texas Dance Hall Preservation Inc.
• List of ballrooms at the National Ballroom & Entertainment Association
• Iowa Ballroom Project
• Robert Meyer,"Millennium Maple - Glorious, Historic, Legendary, Treasured Ballroom Dance Floors", Amateur Dancers, Jan/Feb 2000, Issue#123.
• Geronimo Trevino. Dance Halls and Last Calls: A History of Texas Country Music. Lanham, MD: Republic of Texas Press 2002. ISBN 1-55622-927-5. Copyright

References[link]

1. ^ This rough estimate is based upon photos and not from measurements. Two unofficial pages say that the ballroom is 45,000 square feet, and that the building itself is 300 ft x 150 ft. [1] [2] From pictures, the dancable area without columns is currently smaller than the building although very large. It was billed as the "Largest Dancing Pavilion on the Great Lakes," in David Nasaw, Going out: the rise and fall of public amusements,(Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1999), p. 90.
2. ^ [3][4][5]
3. ^ [6][7]
4. ^ estimate based on architectural drawing
5. ^ 1922 built for ice skating, converted to dancehall in 1956
6. ^ 70x 125 [8]
7. ^ The building is 70' x 122' but the dance floor sits in from the walls approximately four feet and is raised up a few inches. 62' X 116' = 7192
8. ^ http://www.austin360.com/news/content/recreation/guides/visit/dancehall.html
9. ^ Lisa Light, Destination Bride, (Georgetown, ON: North Light Books, 2005), p. 170.
10. ^ estimate based on architectural drawing
11. ^ Savage, Rebecca Binno; Greg Kowalski (2004). Art Deco in Detroit. Arcadia Publishing. pp. 98–104 Although this page says just 5,000
12. ^ Not open to the public
13. ^ 81' x 63' http://www.iowaballroom.com/p/act/ep_wloo.html
14. ^ The floor is definitely larger, but the size is irregular. This estimate is based on this floor plan
15. ^ [9][10]
16. ^ capacity of 6,000 people Ralph G. Giordano, Country & Western Dance, Santa Barbara, CA: ABC-CLIO, 2010 p.42-3.

See also[link]

• Aragon Ballroom (Ocean Park, Santa Monica, California)
• Ballroom an album of Irish music by De Dannan

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This article may be expanded with text translated from the corresponding article in the German Wikipedia. (November 2010) Don't speak German? Click here to read a machine-translated version of the German article. Click [show] on the right to review important translation instructions before translating. Google's machine translation is a useful starting point for translations, but translators must revise errors as necessary and confirm that the translation is accurate, rather than simply copy-pasting machine-translated text into English Wikipedia. Do not translate text that appears unreliable or low-quality. If possible, verify the text with references provided in the foreign-language article. After translating, {{Translated|de|Carmen Vincelj}} must be added to the talk page to ensure copyright compliance. For more guidance, see Wikipedia:Translation.

Carmen Vincelj (born 1972 in Stuttgart) is a German professional dancer. Together with Bryan Watson she has won the WDC World Latin Dance Championships in the professional category nine times (1999–2007).^[1]

See also[link]

• International Latin American Dance Champions

References[link]

External links[link]

• At Dancesportinfo.net

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This article about someone associated with the art of dance is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it. v t e

This biographical article needs additional citations for verification. Please help by adding reliable sources. Contentious material about living persons that is unsourced or poorly sourced must be removed immediately, especially if potentially libelous or harmful. (July 2011)

Alan Paul
Manhattan Transfer, second from right Alan Paul
Background information
Born	(1949-11-23) November 23, 1949 (age 62) Newark, New Jersey United States
Genres	A Capella
Occupations	Musician, songwriter, actor
Instruments	Vocals
Associated acts	The Manhattan Transfer

Alan Paul (born November 23, 1949, Newark, New Jersey) is a Grammy Award- winning singer and composer, best known as one of the founding members of the vocal group The Manhattan Transfer.^[1] He played Teen Angel and Johnny Casino in the original Broadway cast of Grease where he introduced the songs "Beauty School Dropout" and "Born to Hand Jive". As a child, he appeared in the original Broadway cast of Oliver!. He released a solo CD Another Place and Time in 2003.

References[link]

External links[link]

• The Manhattan Transfer Official Website (requires Flash)

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Louis van Amstel (born June 23, 1972, Amsterdam) is a Dutch-born American ballroom dance champion,^[1] professional dancer, and choreographer who appears on the U.S. reality television series Dancing with the Stars.^[2]

Early life[link]

Louis van Amstel was born in Amsterdam; his grandparents were competitive ballroom dancers. He began dancing at 10 and entered competitions at 15. He stopped attending school at 16 to pursue dancing full-time.^{[3][citation needed]}

Career[link]

Early career[link]

He became an American citizen in July 1999^[4] and returned to competition partnered with Karina Smirnoff; they won the United States national championship in 2000.

[edit] Dancing with the Stars

Van Amstel was cast for season 1 of Dancing with the Stars in early 2005. He was partnered with Trista Sutter, but they were the first to be eliminated from the competition. In season 2, he was partnered with hostess Lisa Rinna, with whom he reached fourth place.

Van Amstel returned in season 3 and was partnered with High School Musical star Monique Coleman. During the eighth week of the competition, they received two 10s for their Cha-Cha-Cha marking Van Amstel's only 10s of Dancing With The Stars to date. They made it to the semi-finals, but were eliminated, resulting in a fourth place finish. He did not participate in season 4 due to all the females being taller than he, but he nonetheless maintained a role as a performer and choreographer throughout the season and season 5.^[3]

He returned in season 6 and was partnered with actress, businesswoman, and wife of Elvis Presley Priscilla Presley. The couple made it to the fifth week, but were eliminated, resulting in an eighth place finish. He returned in season 9 and was partnered with reality TV star and singer Kelly Osbourne. The couple made it to the finale where they finished in third place.

He returned in season 10 and was partnered with Reno 911! star Niecy Nash. The couple made it to the eighth week, but were eliminated, resulting in a fifth place finish.

For season 11 of Dancing With The Stars, Van Amstel was partnered with actress and comedian Margaret Cho. The couple made it to the third week, but were eliminated, resulting in a tenth place finish. Van Amstel appeared in Cho's comedy music album Cho Dependent as her therapist. In July 2011, he appeared as himself in an episode of Drop Dead Diva, called "The Wedding" with Cho.

For season 12 of Dancing With The Stars, he was partnered with playboy model and reality star Kendra Wilkinson. During the fifth week in the competition, they danced the 1000th competitive dance.

Other work[link]

During his time off from Dancing With The Stars, Van Amstel set up a not-for profit dance company called "Visionworx Dance Theater," which combines all four major dance forms. He also choreographed and appeared on numerous TV shows such as The Suite Life of Zack and Cody, Hannah Montana, and All My Children.^[3]

After season 6 of Dancing with the Stars, Van Amstel was asked to create and choreograph a show called Ballroom With A Twist, which featured a rotating cast of dancers. The show also featured former American Idol contestants including David Hernandez and Carly Smithson. Ballroom With A Twist recently toured in theaters around the country and was very successful. He choreographed seven dances on season 5 of So You Think You Can Dance. Three of the seven dances made it to the finale and were mentioned as the judges' favorite picks at the Kodak theater in Hollywood. He continued choreographing in seasons 6, 7, and 8.^{[citation needed]}

Personal life[link]

Van Amstel is openly gay. However, he does not label himself as gay because he does not want to be put in a box.^[4] During the story week in season 11 of Dancing With The Stars, Van Amstel partnered with Margaret Cho and blamed Cho's gay pride-themed performance for being kicked off the show. He said, "I don't want to be labeled [as gay] because labeling is the beginning of discrimination and hatred."^[5]

[edit] Dancing with the Stars performances

Season 1: With Trista Sutter:

Season 2: With Lisa Rinna:

Season 3: With Monique Coleman:

Season 6: With Priscilla Presley:

Season 9: With Kelly Osbourne:

Season 10: With Niecy Nash:

Season 11: With Margaret Cho:

Season 12: With Kendra Wilkinson:

References[link]

External links[link]

• Louis Van Amstel at the Internet Movie Database
• Official website
• LouisLetsDance.com
• LaBlastfitness.com