By Cyrus Guccione
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Fountain Hills dance studio Real World Dance (RWD) recently added some metal to its trophy cabinet.

RWD Owner Rita Brown and Studio Director DiVina Gallatin each won a championship at the Desert Sol Dancesport competition in Mesa Saturday, Feb. 24.

At the Saturday matinee, Gallatin took home gold in the Bronze  rhythm Scholarship category and Brown took first place in the bronze rhythm Championship category.

“We were having so much fun. And then we found out we won our division,” Brown said, the 79-year-old dance studio owner who started dancing only a few years ago.

Gallatin, 69, has been dancing since her childhood but took a 40-year hiatus. And despite growing up around dancers, Gallatin said this was her very first dance competition.

At the competition, Gallatin danced the Rumba, Cha-Cha and Swing while Brown danced the Rumba, Waltz and Cha-Cha.

“There were hundreds of dancers,” Gallatin said, saying dancers flocked from Scottsdale to Tucson to dance in this competition.

Gallatin and Brown credit their instructors for giving them the confidence to enter the competition and do as well as they did.

“Luckily our instructors are very professional and all have danced in championships,” Gallatin said. “They’re like, ‘If you really want your studio to shine, then you need to compete.’ That’s when Rita and I said, ‘Let’s do it.’”

Benefits of dancing

Before Gallatin began working at RWD, she was a caregiver, working with people with dementia and Alzheimer’s disease. Dancing helps to reverse the effects of mobility diseases over time, Gallatin said.

Gallatin herself had ongoing seizures following the death of her first husband 16 years ago.

“I had a succession of tiny strokes, and I couldn’t remember names, I couldn’t do math...my daughter thought I’d lost my mind and I thought I did too,” Gallatin said, who decided to try dancing again.

She found that moving on the dance floor sharpened her memory and improved her mood.

Brown’s enthusiasm for dancing is also due to its many health benefits, saying it creates new pathways through one’s nervous system that tend to show signs of atrophy with age.

“It’s almost like dancing cleans your spark plugs or something,” Gallatin said. “It’s like the old saying, ‘If you don’t use it, you lose it.’”

Real World Dance showcases

Brown invites anyone interested in learning more about dancing to visit Real World Dance and see for themselves the benefits of dancing, both social and physical.

RWD recently celebrated its one-year anniversary by sponsoring a food drive for Extended Hands Food Bank and raised $250 to benefit EHFB.

RWD has held themed dancing showcase events with upwards of 90 dancers showing up to participate. Brown plans to host another showcase Saturday, April 6, from 2 to 4 p.m. at the studio, inviting the community to participate and support a local charity.

“People have been so supportive of our fun dance activities, and we want to always give our support in return,” Brown said.“Instructors and coaches at RWD can teach and take dancers through the competition world and to victory.”

With hard work and good instructors, Brown and Gallatin hope to enter more competitions and encourage others to join them in their dance journey.

“In a town like Fountain Hills where the majority of us are retired, dancing is very good,” Gallatin said. “Playing pickleball and golf and all that is fabulous, but there’s a whole social aspect to dancing.”

For those who are new to dancing or want to pick it back up, Gallatin and Brown invite them to Zumba Tuesdays at 6 p.m.

“For $18, you get a group lesson and get motivated,” Gallatin said. “It’s really good for both their mind, physical health and especially their social health.”

Real World Dance is located at 17030 E. Enterprise Drive. For more information, call 480-219-2188 or visit realworlddance.com.

We invite our readers to submit their civil comments on this issue. Email AZOpinions@iniusa.org. Cyrus Guccione can be reached at cguccione@iniusa.org.