Ballroom

It's a great idea once you hear it: teaching ballroom dancing to ballet choreographers, to make its graceful steps available to artists looking to expand their references. The dance forms have interesting affinities: Both rely on partnering and value elegance, grace and technical attainment. And their differences add spice to any transposition. The Carlisle Project, having invited eight young choreographers to a workshop with performing and teaching masters Pierre Dulaine and Yvonne Marceau, invited the public to sample the brief ballet sketches they produced, each using a pair of dancers.

The Bratz ballroom in Pennsauken, which was closed in December amid controversy, will reopen for a teen Valentine Day's dance tonight, but a spokesman for the owner said the event did not represent a revival of the club. Raymond Martz, consultant for Halloran Inc., owners of the Halloran Plaza hotel complex that is now known as the Betsy Ross Plaza, said the dance was part of a new marketing strategy to turn the 22,000-square-foot ballroom into an all-purpose entertainment facility.

Punxsutawney Phil forecast six additional weeks of winter back on Feb. 2, but don't let the groundhog deter you from being out and about. Walk out of the warmth of your home and into the night's nippiness as you travel to the Ballroom at the Ben tonight. In August, we told you that Men of Baca strive to improve with each of their monthlies; back then a comedy showcase was included. But tonight, the organization that parties with a purpose will be screening films at its "Soul Cinema" edition.

The ballroom of the Bellevue Stratford is one of the most beautiful in the country and certainly the East Coast. It should be preserved at all cost. Any building of merit that has survived 70 years or more in our throw-away culture has a special claim on our sympathy and attention. We have no moral right to destroy good craftsmanship of past generations, but we do have a responsibility to future generations to pass along todays noteworthy buildings intact. The ballroom has its own entrance, stairs, elevator and therefore could be easily saved and happily used.

Laura Hall Sherman, 85, a Camden City ballroom dance instructor for much of four decades, died yesterday at West Jersey Hospital-Marlton. A Cherry Hill resident for the last 25 years, she was previously a longtime North Camden resident and was born in Westmont. Mrs. Sherman ran a ballroom dancing studio - Daisey's Dancing Studio at Seventh and Market Streets in Camden - in the 1940s, '50s, '60s, and early '70s. After graduating from high school, she studied dance instructing for two years.

Will the Pennsylvania Convention Center's ballroom open as scheduled in January 1994? That possibility appeared somewhat less certain yesterday. Ted Garrison, the center's director of construction, said that the convention center's ballroom, to be located inside the Reading Terminal train shed, would open next March or April because of a possible construction delay involving the room's ceiling. "It's going to be tight," Garrison said yesterday. But "buildings open all the time that aren't 100 percent finished.

The Sunnybrook Ballroom & Restaurant in Pottstown, which has hosted performers ranging from Duke Ellington to Kiss, will be undergoing a $250,000 face-lift this spring. The work will include improving the driveway, adding lighting and sprucing up the landscaping. "The parking lot is in a major state of disrepair," said Kirk Wycoff, president and chief executive officer of Progress Bank, which owns Sunnybrook. "A number of events have been scheduled throughout the spring and summer months, and the facility needs to be in the best possible condition," he said.

Center City real estate investor Samuel Rappaport, who made a fortune buying and selling seedy properties, is planning to restore the historic PSFS building at Seventh and Walnut Streets as his new headquarters. Rappaport, who in the last year has bought the block bounded by Walnut, St. James, Seventh and Eighth Streets, plans to move his offices into the second floor of the PSFS building and erect a glass-enclosed ballroom atop the building overlooking Washington Square. Rappaport also plans to keep an apartment on Walnut Street in one of three historic townhouses known as York Row. For years, Rappaport has had a reputation as a landlord whose tenants included X-rated movie houses and bookstores.

Somewhere out in the Atlantic, a ship from France carrying an enormous 10,000-crystal chandelier is making its way to Philadelphia. At the same time, in Cheshire, Conn., art conservators are doing detective work to create decorative paintings authentic to 1850s Philadelphia. Carpet and fabric designs are being vetted, chandeliers built. And already scaffolding is up, wood is being ripped out and windows opened in the Academy of Music, where all these elements will coalesce in the next year or so. Actually, the $11.6 million being spent to renovate the Academy takes the form of two separate projects: $10 million to totally renovate the ballroom, and $1.6 million to rebuild the chandelier in the main auditorium.

Leonore Annenberg is extending her track record as the Academy of Music's most generous supporter with a $5.3 million pledge to help restore the Academy's ballroom. Annenberg's gift brings to $11.6 million the amount raised by the 150th Academy anniversary ball and concert, set for Saturday night. (The $11.6 million is a gross amount; net proceeds won't be known until after Saturday's fete.) Proceeds are to be divided between the Academy and its owner, the Philadelphia Orchestra - except for the Annenberg gift, which is earmarked for the ballroom.

WHILE Anna Trebunskaya enjoys her time on ABC's massively popular "Dancing with the Stars," most recently partnering with TV personality Carson Kressley, she's excited to take a break. "It's nice to go back to a partner who knows what they're doing," she said. Trebunskaya and her husband, Jonathan Roberts, another "Dancing with the Stars" alum, will pair up onstage at "Champions of Dance," coming to the Annenberg Center Thursday through Sunday. The show brings together 10 champion ballroom dancers in a performance directed and choreographed by Taliat Tarsinov, whom Trebunskaya has worked with on and off since she was 15. But her director isn't the only familiar face in the show.

NEW YORK - With 16 Grammys, millions of records sold, several defining hits and a superstar husband, Beyoncé has nothing to prove. But sometimes even queens need to show what it means to be royalty. And on Sunday night, Beyoncé arrived at the Roseland Ballroom to give fans and critics alike a reminder that she remains the head diva in the music world. She made her case to a select group of fans one rump-shaking move at a time. "This show is going to be a little different," Beyoncé told the standing-room crowd at the show's outset.

Diane Alcavage could barely make out the distraught voice mail. The Dec. 10 phone call was from the wife of Cherry Hill resident Cesar Bonifacio, one of the top students at her Westville ballroom dance studio. "I'm calling to let you know Cesar will not make his dance class tonight," said Acelita Bonifacio. "He's in Cooper Hospital. He'd want me to tell you. Diane, he's not doing good. Please, please call. " When Alcavage finally got Acelita on the phone, the news was shocking.

Workers from the Mathieu Lustrerie atelier in Gargas, France, visited Philadelphia last week to install 12 new chandeliers in the Academy of Music ballroom. Mural painters sat perched on scaffolding, putting the last blue hues and faux-marble touches on various parts of the building. Plaster repairs and roof work are complete, and after a new rug goes down in the next few weeks, the work is done. For this summer, at least. The Academy ballroom renovation, overseen by Philadelphia interior designer John Trosino of KlingStubbins, strips away a scheme installed in the 1950s, replacing it with cues taken from an 1860 photograph magnified to reveal minute details.

Somewhere in the nether zone where the rip-and-burn ethos of the Digital Age bumps up against the you-break-it-you-bought-it copyright laws of the Analog Age is where Girl Talk opens his laptop and throws a party. That may sound about as sexy as an equation on paper, but as parties go, it's a deathless, breathless, unstoppable good time: smoke, confetti, toilet-paper streamers, and, like, all your favorite songs - together at last! Unlike most DJs, Girl Talk - a.k.a. the acclaimed Pittsburgh-based mixologist Gregg Gillis, 26 - doesn't cut-and-paste from obscure vinyl B-sides and deep cuts from rare albums.

Somewhere out in the Atlantic, a ship from France carrying an enormous 10,000-crystal chandelier is making its way to Philadelphia. At the same time, in Cheshire, Conn., art conservators are doing detective work to create decorative paintings authentic to 1850s Philadelphia. Carpet and fabric designs are being vetted, chandeliers built. And already scaffolding is up, wood is being ripped out and windows opened in the Academy of Music, where all these elements will coalesce in the next year or so. Actually, the $11.6 million being spent to renovate the Academy takes the form of two separate projects: $10 million to totally renovate the ballroom, and $1.6 million to rebuild the chandelier in the main auditorium.

I looked down at my bloody toe peeking out from my open-toe sandal. Ten minutes into my first session of ballroom dance lessons, I knew that my husband, Rob, and I were in trouble. Limping to the sidelines to sit for a minute, I realized my fantasy was going up in smoke. I'd never be Ginger Rogers to my husband's Fred Astaire. I am a huge fan of the TV show Dancing with the Stars. I've watched it for the last three seasons, mesmerized as the celebrities and their professional partners glide across the dance floor.

The question stunned Althea Hankins, a Germantown family physician on a flight from California to Philadelphia. "You're a Negro, aren't you?" asked an older white man. Taken aback by the outdated term, Hankins said, she replied, "Yes, I guess so. " Hankins said the stranger on that 1999 trip then told her that he collected memorabilia, and showed her an old pamphlet bearing the headline "Negro soldiers party - 5801 Germantown Avenue, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. " "I told him, 'That's impossible.

Carolyn Bates had doubts after hearing the program's title, "Dancing With Seniors," but the 15 or so dancers moved their feet faster than she had expected. Only one person leaned on a cane as he walked into Springfield's Healthplex Sports Club, where a portable dance floor was set up on the basketball court for a December introductory session. "I was pleasantly surprised. I thought it would be a bunch of old people in wheelchairs," said Bates, 65, from Ridley Park, who signed up to compete in the Crozer-Keystone Health System competition.

Of all the merengue partners in all the fifth grades in all the schools in the Dancing Classrooms Philly 10-week program, wouldn't you know, Gabriel Garcia ended up matched with Shaila Cruz. And heading into the finals of the first-ever Colors of the Rainbow Team Match yesterday afternoon at the Merriam Theater - a big deal, hosted by Pierre Dulaine of Mad Hot Ballroom fame, with 70 students from six schools - it was no secret that Gabriel and Shaila were, let's just say, barely on speaking terms.