‘Dance’ and Romance Make Good Partners

If Hollywood wasn’t so, well, Hollywood, actress Vanessa Williams wouldn’t, couldn’t look as consistently fresh as she does in the movie “Dance With Me,” which opens today.

“We dance for 12 hours a day” to prepare for the sort of grueling competition that Williams’ character enters in the movie, said Stuart Cole of Fountain Valley, a nationally renowned professional ballroom champ who waltzes through several frames in “Dance With Me.”

Cole is among about 10 Orange County dancers hired for the film, which may be short on sweat but, the pros agreed, doesn’t fudge another facet of the demanding profession: romance--and heartbreak--on the dance floor.

“That aspect is realistic,” said Cole, 40.

Dance partnerships can be fraught with hazards at least as gut-wrenching as those in the movie, in which Williams takes up with a dreamy handyman (played by Puerto Rican pop star Chayanne) who works at the studio where she teaches. But then, the dancer, who excels in rumba and other steamy Latin dances, returns to international competition with her former lover and partner.

Love often grows between partners in real life, attest professional competitors, who practice hip-to-hip daily and commonly spend two or three weekends each month at competitions, frequently traveling together.

Still, in the high-stakes world of ballroom dance (which has gotten the preliminary nod to become an Olympic sport in the next millennium), love can easily crumble, said Michael Mead of Rancho Santa Margarita, another top-ranked national competitor.

He’s been dumped by a partner-girlfriend for a better dancer--twice--and it was the same guy who swept each woman off her feet, professionally and personally.

How about Mead’s current partner? They’re involved.

“But I’m not a total lost cause,” said Mead, 42. He broke the habit, he said, before coupling with Toni Redpath (the only name he’ll name), during a brief spell during which he was “cured.”

It’s different with Redpath, Mead said. They agree that dancing with the one you love beats the alternative. It also makes it easier to display emotional expression, for which all pros are stringently judged.

“My feelings for Toni are a source of strength in my dancing,” said Mead, who, like Cole, specializes in so-called smooth dances, such as the waltz and fox-trot, and teaches at Santa Ana’s Londance studio.

“Every relationship has different facets: You have your good times and your bad times,” said Redpath, who lives in San Diego. “And all dances have different facets. The waltz is more romantic and melancholy; the tango is passionate, flirtatious. So you have a lot more to draw on when you’re competing with your [boyfriend].”

Cole, who appears in the film with Masako Yamada--his competition partner but not his sweetie--agreed such unions have advantages. Couples can talk shop, share triumphs and commiserate.

“And, if you’re not married to your partner, you never see your wife,” said Cole, a regular on “Championship Ballroom Dancing,” the annual glitterfest that’s always a hit for PBS, and a teacher at South Coast Ballroom Center in Newport Beach.

Still, Cole’s seen the downside.

“If you have a disagreement about a competition, even though everyone knows you should leave it in the studio, unfortunately, some people take it home, so you’re there with it all the time.

“If you marry your partner, then basically, you’ve fallen in love because of the music, the togetherness and the amount of time you spend together on the floor. Then, unfortunately, when there is no more competing and practicing, you can find you have nothing in common.”

Heartache notwithstanding, none of the dancers interviewed would trade their careers for the silver screen, although everybody enjoyed breaking with routine to help director Randa Haines (“Children of a Lesser God”) realize her vision.

Vanessa Ramirez, 10, lives in Santa Ana and won sixth place in a youth division at last year’s U.S. Open Swing Dance Championship at the Disneyland Hotel in Anaheim. It was her first time on a movie set, and she had a blast. Would she want to be an actress?

“No,” Vanessa said. “Because I love dancing.”