Local dancers hope to launch club

Friday, September 18, 2009
Local ballroom dancer Tim Tillotson (pictured here with Putnam County Community Foundation Executive Director Elaine Peck during the Dancing with the Putnam County Stars event in April), along with his wife, Viki, is organizing two nights of ballroom dancing in Putnam County to see if there is enough community interest to launch a dance club.

GREENCASTLE -- When Tim and Viki Tillotson want to go ballroom dancing, they have to drive all the way to Indianapolis to do it.

The Greencastle couple is hoping that enough local enthusiasts want to dance that they will be able to get a club together.

To measure interest in such a club, two ballroom dances will take place at the Airport Bistro Bar at the Dixie Chopper Business Center on Sunday, Sept. 20 and Sunday, Sept. 27 from 5 to 8 p.m.

The dances will be open to the public, and will begin with a one-hour dance lesson for beginners, followed by two hours of open dancing featuring many different types of music.

Admission will be $10 per person. Students presenting student I.D. and senior citizens 65 and older will be charged admission of $5 per person.

Dixie Chopper is donating the space for the dances. The Tillotsons enough people will come to the initial two events to make a local non-profit dance club a feasible idea.

The club would focus on providing affordable lessons and dance opportunities to the people of Putnam County.

"We drive all the way to downtown Indianapolis to dance," Tim said.

"It would be really nice to have someplace to go nearby."

Should the club become a reality, the Tillotsons would use admission fees for club promotion as well as to rent dance halls and hire DJs and dance instructors.

Their vision is to be able to offer lessons in many styles of dance, including fox trot, swing, waltz and rumba.

Should the first two dances not generate enough interest to launch a viable club, the admission fees collected will be split between the Humane Society of Putnam County and the Putnam County Non-Food Pantry at St. Andrew's Episcopal Church.

For more information on the dances, call the Tillotsons at 522-3251.

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