This article appears in the January 2011 issue of Louisville Magazine. To subscribe, please visit loumag.com.
Don’t know about you, but we could really use a drink right about now. So we’ve scoured the city to find our 21 favorite bars — from upscale jazz joints to dives where your beer bottle sticks to the table. We’ve also tossed in some personalities familiar with local nightlife and quotes we overheard while out on the town.
For the past 15 years or so, Bob Watters has been a dance instructor in town. Recently, he’s been telling people to get off their “best asset” and onto the dance floor at the Electric Cowboy (8021 Dixie Highway), which features a saddle that shimmers like a disco ball and hangs from the ceiling. There’s also a mechanical bull. (Yee-haw!) At 8 p.m. on Wednesdays, Watters teaches couples dancing; at the same time the following evening, it’s line dancing. The styles vary, including the two-step and West Coast swing. “Anybody can learn to dance,” the 41-year-old Watters says. “I didn’t start dancing until I was 22 years old. Before that, the only dancing I’d done was slow dancing at my high school prom.”
If you’ve never done any line dancing, will you look like a fool your first time out?
“Basically, all dancing is transferring your weight from your left foot to your right foot at the right time. If you can do ‘The Electric Slide’ on the beat, you can do everything else I can do.”
What songs are good for this style of dancing?
“I like stronger beats, songs written in major chords. ‘Save a Horse (Ride a Cowboy)’ is a great two-step, a really good line dance. And the lyrics don’t necessarily have to be upbeat. People love ‘Kerosene’ by Miranda Lambert.”
Any tunes you’re sick of?
“Man, every night you go out they play the ‘Cupid Shuffle’ at least once, if not twice. I could put that one back in the bag.”
Any couples meet during your classes?
“We’ve had several people that met and spoke for the first time during dance lessons and went on to get married and procreate, for sure. Of course, some have also gotten divorced.”
What do you like about this style of dancing?
“I always liked math better than English in school, and the beautiful thing about a structured dance is it’s much more like math or science — there are rules; you step on this foot on this count. Then, after you get all the math down, you can put your own style, some English, back into it.”
Photo: John Nation
