Article in the Charlotte Observer on  By Karen Scioscia in the Soooo Meck section

Ted Sowder

Dance Dance Dance

Dancing is one of the "it" things right now. Shows "like dancing with the stars"(the traveling production will be appearing in Charlotte on Friday) and "So You Think You Can Dance?" are very popular among a variety of viewers. Dancing is pretty hot locally, too. Ted Sowder and his wife, Kim own American Ballroom Dance Club in Pineville. Sowder, 47 says they have "lots of students" especially couples in the baby boomer/empty nest age group.

'The Longest Walk'

Sowder grew up in Memphis, Tenn., and developed his love of dance there. As a young teenager, he says, he and his buddies were enticed by girls from nearby St. Agnes Academy to go to there dances. Sowder says the longest walk is the one you make back to the guys after you've asked a girl to dance and she's turned you down. You just know what the guys will be saying, Sowder adds. "The great thing about those catholic girls," said Sowder, "is that if they didn't want to dance with you for whatever reason, they would take you over to a girl who would. You never had to make the longest walk." He says knowing how to dance meant he always had plenty of girls to talk to and hang out with, because "girls like guys who can dance." It made him even more popular than all the sports he was involved in, he says.

How dancing led to marriage

Sowder when on to disco dancing and competing. From there, he joined the Fred Astaire Dance Studio and learned ballroom dancing. "At first I thought it was the dances my grand parents did," Sowder says with a laugh, "but then I realized how great the dances were and how much training went in to each. I knew it was for me." He trained to be an instructor, and Jan. 2 1979, was his first full day as a dance instructor. He eventually owned his own studio in Mobile Ala., and that's where he met his wife. Her mother was taking lessons and mentioned that she had a daughter that was home from college and needed a job. Kim walked in and Sowder hired her on the spot as a receptionist. "Guess you could say I liked her right away," he says. She ultimately took instruction, too, and became a competitor and an instructor.

'Mom and Pop shop'

Together the Sowders moved to Florida , bought a Fred Astaire franchise and competed. "Those were great years," says Sowder. They moved to Raleigh and finally to Charlotte, where the opened an independent studio. It's know as a 'mom and pop shop' in the business, according to Sowder. He says he and Kim work well together and have other instructors also. Although their main clientele is couples, they also have some singles who enjoy dancing. Sowder says that when someone younger (20s or 30s) comes in, he suggests another dance studio in the area that caters more to that age group. Now that athletes such as Emmitt Smith, Jerry Rice and Apolo Anton Ohno have shown that dancing is for "cool, masculine guys, too," many more young men are taking lessons. He says the area studios get along well with each other...(the) true dance community is pretty small."

Loves what he does

Sowder and his wife live in Matthews with their two teenage children. He says he feels really lucky to have met those St. Agnes girls who led him to the career that he finds fun and fulfilling, and he can't imagine doing anything else.