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Ballroom dance lessons bring family closer

Instructor Jackie Shubert (third from right) leads members of the Moeller family through ballroom dance steps in Pierson Hall Gym in preparation for daughter Heather's July wedding. Participants include (from left) freshman Lindsey Moeller, Ryan Moeller, Heather Moeller, Bob Moeller, Pat Moeller (second from right) and Dan Palmer.
4:04 p.m., May 19, 2004--When Heather Moeller (CHEP ’02) and Dan Palmer are wed July 31, their first waltz will be fully choreographed and six months in the making.

Moeller, a special education teacher in West Grove, Pa., wished everything to be perfect when she marries Palmer, an eighth-grade math teacher. So, she enrolled in UD ballroom dancing lessons with her groom-to-be and her entire family.

Since February, the family has been learning moves from Jackie Shubert of UD’s ballroom dance team. Shubert choreographed the couple’s first dance as husband and wife and Moeller’s wedding whirl with her dad, Bob Moeller.

“It’s just been such a positive experience for us. We just laugh the whole time,’’ Moeller said. “It’s just so funny to see the guys get involved just as much as we do.’’

“We” means Moeller; her mother, Pat Moeller, an instructor in UD’s Department of Education; and her younger sister, Lindsey, a UD freshman. “The guys” are Palmer, Bob Moeller, a chemical engineer, and Heather’s brother Ryan Moeller, an MBNA employee with Down syndrome.

Pat Moeller said ballroom dancing coach Pat Grim never hesitated when she told her one of the adults in the group had a disability. Twelve weeks later, Ryan Moeller, a groomsman in the wedding, is dancing with ease.

“This is something he can excel at. He loves music and dancing,’’ his mother said. “He’s learned so much—posture and everything. He’s to the point now where he’s a critic. He watches everybody and tells us what we do wrong.’’

Pat Moeller and her husband learned steps they never knew before in their 32 years of marriage.

“You go for your child,’’ Pat Moeller said. “That’s what we went for, but it just became so much fun, and we learned so much. And, it’s given us time to be with our new son-in-law.”

When Bob Moeller dances with his daughter at the wedding, they’ll be stepping to a version of “My Girl” by the Temptations. Bob and Heather Moeller picked it because it’s the song they used to sing as they washed the dishes—and because it’s not too sad and sentimental.

“Bob needs something fast and uplifting or he’ll never make it through the dance. He and Heather are very close,’’ Pat Moeller said.

So, when Heather Moeller, former president of Chi Omega Sorority at UD, walks onto the dance floor surrounded by her sorority sisters in their bridesmaid dresses, everything will be perfect.

Of course, Heather Moeller says the day would still be perfect even if no one could dance. “No matter what, I have Dan. It will be my dream wedding, absolutely,’’ she said.

Members of the University’s ballroom dance team have been teaching private and group lessons and choreographing wedding dances to raise funds for the team for more than 14 years. The next series of group lessons, scheduled to begin Wednesday, June 2, cost $50 for nonstudents for a six-lesson series and $25 for full-time students. For more information, call Grim at 831-1117.

Photo by Duane Perry

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