Thursday September 27, 2007

Woman finds emotional outlet, youthful vigor in dance

Daily Mail staff

Craig Giffin asked Julia McCormick to dance at an event in Huntington in the late 1990s because he could tell she was an accomplished dancer. She now helps him with weekly lessons he teaches.

Julia McCormick’s dance experience includes lessons and competitions in other states — and some nice gold and silver medals to show for it.Julia McCormick has found the fountain of youth -- anywhere on a dance floor.

Gliding to music has kept her fit and trim, McCormick says. And it has been a wonderful boost to her social life.

McCormick first took up ballroom dancing with her late husband, Richard, as a break from the stresses of the jewelry business they ran with his two brothers. She worked in the back office keeping the books, a perfectionist who insisted on logging every penny earned or spent at McCormick's Jewelers.

"When you are taking dance lessons, you have to turn off work," she said. Her husband was happy to dance with her, though she said he did not take to it as passionately as she did. She traveled to classes in Georgia with her sister and later competed in events in Ohio and North Carolina.

A native of Smyrna, Tenn., McCormick recalls loving dance since she was a girl.

"I was probably about 5 years old when a cousin of mine taught me the Charleston," she said, offering a small clue about her age, which she declines to reveal. ("I want people to see me," she explains.)

"And I always loved movies with dancing in them," McCormick added.

Her natural grace and her attention to detail made her a good -- and persistent -- student.

"Whatever level you achieve, there is always the next level," she said.

While McCormick has taken lessons in just about everything from swing to samba, she is drawn most to traditional ballroom styles, especially the waltz.

She and her husband were active in several dance groups until his death in 1997. She has competed in Dance Showcase events in other states that draw thousands of dancers and has earned gold and silver medals for her footwork.

"My husband told me on his death bed, ‘Julia, you keep dancing because I know you love it,' " she said.

Indeed, she found it kept her busy and offered a social outlet during some difficult times.

"I lost my only brother, my sister and my husband in four years -- that was something to go through," she said.

In the late 1990s, McCormick attended an Academy Dance Club event in Huntington, where she met a young man who asked her to dance. She recalls that Craig Giffin had just begun lessons and she encouraged him to continue.

He recalls he was "horrible" when he first started lessons. She recalls he carried himself well and had potential.

They wouldn't meet again until about two years later, when McCormick recalls being impressed by the progress Giffin had made and they soon began dancing as partners.

And when he began teaching lessons about a year ago, he asked McCormick to help. They teach regularly at the University of Charleston, West Virginia State University and several other sites around the state.

Giffin, 34, and a lawyer by day, said the two have become friends.

"I've learned several things from her," he said, and not all involve dancing.

"I've learned a lot of ways to be more gracious toward people, because she is a very gracious lady."

Their partnership and friendship illustrates best what McCormick loves about ballroom dance -- the way it can bring together people of all ages and backgrounds. She wishes more young people danced and she laments the lost tradition of cotillion classes for young men and women.

"If I had had children, I would have wanted them to dance," she said.

She now is active in four or five dance groups and between lessons and social dancing, she often is out several nights a week.

"Honey, there's no end to it," she said, smiling.

A parquet-floored room in her Kanawha City home has been cleared for a practice area. Her closets contain an array of clothing for dance, including custom-made competition dresses studded with sequins and mid-heeled dance shoes.

It is easy to see that her grace and manners on the dance floor are part of her nature.

McCormick, who has served as a model for local fashion events such as the Symphony Style Show, is the kind of woman who dresses well for all occasions. She's also the kind of woman who can persuade the cable guy to give her his personal cell phone number in case the Internet connection problem she had is not fixed and she needs him to come back.

McCormick's speech carries the refined drawl of a Southerner and a slight impediment that comes from hearing loss suffered after severe ear infections when she was about 10 years old.

"It has gotten worse as I've gotten older," she said. Two hearing aids help to correct the loss.

Fortunately, it doesn't affect her ability to dance.

"I feel the music. I know there are some tones I can't hear. I may not hear the highest violin, but I can still appreciate the symphony," she said.