Restaurant Dishes Up Line Dancing
The country dancers were kickin’ up their heels, two-stepping and swinging alongside the steamy buffet line at the Vietnamese/Chinese restaurant on East Sprague.
Country dance lessons are offered for two hours every Wednesday through Friday evening at the Valley’s Lotus Garden restaurant.
For $2.50, anyone can learn to cha-cha or do the West and East coast swing, the nightclub two-step and country line dancing. The buffet, though, isn’t included.
“I’m probably the first Chinese food place to offer country dancing,” said Billy Reynolds, owner of the Lotus Graden.
It’s been two months since the dance lessons began at the Lotus Garden. On average, 20 to 30 people show up each evening the lessons are offered.
“You don’t have to have a partner to come,” said Steve Durham, who leads the lessons. “We make sure everyone gets to dance.”
Durham said some have never danced before, others look like they’ve been dancing a lifetime.
Most dancers wear blue jeans, cowboy hats and big brassy belt buckles.
Reynolds, who wears his dark gray hair in a pony tail and is known as Capt. Billy, bought the restaurant in May 1996.
Recently, Reynolds had a new 600-square-foot dance floor installed, paid for with what’s left of the former Hewlett Packard engineer’s retirement. He’s poured most of his savings into the restaurant, mainly because it gives him a sense of purpose and he likes the opportunity to express himself.
“We needed a place like this in the Valley for a long time,” he said.
Valley residents Fred Mashtare and Diane Van Gelder met at Lotus Garden and now make sure they go dancing at least three times a week.
“We sing the songs, look into each other’s eyes, it’s mesmerizing,” said Van Gelder.
“It’s also a great stress reliever,” said Mashtare.
Van Gelder works in the Central Valley School District’s personnel office and Mashtare works in construction. The two said dancing makes them forget about work and any problems they might have.
“You can really get away from the hustle and bustle of the day,” said Mashtare.
That’s not to say the dancing is a piece of cake.
“The toughest thing for people is deciding who’s going to lead,” said Durham, who’s been a dance instructor for 16 years in Spokane. “The hardest thing for a lady is to let the man take the lead.”
It’s true, said Darby Stewart, a west Spokane resident who meets her North Side boyfriend at the restaurant to dance. She and her boyfriend, Dave Cornell, have taken lessons for a year, on and off.
Durham, who began Wednesday night’s lesson with some basic moves, started adding turns and twists.
“Lots of people just get out there and hop just a little bit,” said Reynolds. “I don’t see any end in sight. You can learn somethin’ every time you come. Even me.”
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