Busting a move online

New web site offers step-by-step instructions for those who want to learn how to be a dancing fool

By RACHEL CAMPBELL
Diversions Editor

So you want to be a dancing machine but don't know how? The solution is just a mouse click away at Bustamove.com where the basic dance lesson comes to life via the internet.
After opening in September, Bustamove is rapidly expanding to include more dance moves that can be used in a variety of social situations. The site currently offers basic and advanced lessons for salsa, East Coast swing, West Coast swing and wedding dances such as the waltz and the fox trot. With this new web site, there is no excuse for staying off the dance floor.
Jeffrey Grossman and Kate Moschandreas started Bustamove after realizing that people seemed more likely to smile, laugh and just be happy on the dance floor. They wanted to make the joy that they saw in dancers accessible to all people, so they created a site to provide instruction in the most affordable and convenient way possible - from the comfort of home.
Grossman and Moschandreas are both experienced in the field of computers and technology, and Grossman is also an accomplished ballroom and Latin dancer - he has taken more than five years of dance classes and has danced competitively for three years.
This experience that Grossman and Moschandreas bring to Bustamove makes the site easy to access and learn from because it is designed in a user-friendly format - a menu on the left side of the site guides the viewer to the exact dance without having to search endlessly as some web sites require.
Learning a dance through Bustamove is as comprehensive as taking a dance class, owners say. The site demonstrates the dance steps through text, pictures and video clips which fully explain even the most complicated move in simple terms. No step is overlooked - the lesson starts with the correct stance, including where the feet and hands should be positioned for both people involved in the dance.
Adding to the feel of a real dance class are the video clips that bring the text explanations and still photos to life. Grossman and Moschandreas believe the best way to teach a move is to show it being danced, and the animations featured accomplish this.
The video clip dancers are professional dancers whose images have been captured while doing each particular step. The images have been simplified in order to decrease download time and fluidity of motion. The animation portrayed on the screen uses the real digital footage, takes away the background to define the edges of the dancers and then colors each dancer - the leader is in blue and the follower in red. This accentuates the dancers and allows the viewer to clearly see how the dance is done.
Simply moving the cursor over a picture animates it. Surprisingly, the video clips are smooth and comprehensive enough that even the person with two left feet could understand. The appropriate music accompanies the video clips so that the viewer can hear the correct beats with each step.
The dancers featured in the clips are David Weiss and Valentina Kostenko, who were 10-Dance U.S. Finalists in 1998 and recently won the International Safire Ball Rising Star Competition. They also have extensive experience teaching dance and are expert club performers.
An added bonus on Bustamove is the Hall of Shame that shows how not to do a dance step. In animated and still picture form along with text explaining what not to do, the viewer is notified of common mistakes people make while doing particular dance moves.
All basic dance moves are free, but advanced steps cost $1. Once a step is purchased, the viewer will always have access to it.
One of the most unique features on Bustamove is the dancing directory. Once you have learned to salsa or swing at home and want to try it out with a partner, Bustamove is there to help. Individuals search for a dancing partner according to sex, age, location, dance level and dance interest. The only personal information given to perspective dance partners is the other person's e-mail address, which maintains a level of privacy between the two individuals.
Bustamove recommends that two people exchange e-mails before meeting in person, and once they meet, it should be done in a public place. As the site explains, "Bustamove takes no responsibility for what happens when two people meet." While it is important to be careful when meeting people through the internet, Bustamove is making an effort to give people the opportunity to dance their hearts away and feel the joy that others do on the dance floor.
Another bonus on the web site includes a list of dance events by city. This portion of the site is currently under construction, but will soon be available.
While Bustamove only has a few basic dances available on its site, it will be adding hip hop, the cha cha and the lindy hop within the next few months.
Bustamove is here to help anyone become a superstar on the dance floor, so click on the web site, stand up and start shaking your booty. Before you know it, you'll be stunning people with your dancing skills and style.

Copyright 1999 by the Daily Trojan. All rights reserved.
This article was published in Vol. 138, No. 49 (Tuesday, November 9, 1999), beginning on page 7 and ending on page 9.