One night about eight years ago, Lynne Gambone stumbled into a nightclub and left with a lifelong passion, she said.
People in the club were dancing the salsa, and Gambone, a Herricks school district parent and PTA member, said she became “utterly mesmerized,’’ adding, “I stared at people’s feet for three hours.”
Since then, dance has led Gambone to feel a kind of joy that nothing else gives her, pushing her to first perform a set of ballroom dances for the Herricks Senior Community Service Center five years ago.
She has returned every year since, finding the performances give the senior citizens in the program a similar sense of joy and nostalgia, she said.
“You can see the wonder,” said Gambone, an Albertson resident. “You can see the smiles on their faces, but you can see the wonder in their hearts, and they share that when we’re done dancing by coming up and chatting with us.”
Gambone will return to the Senior Community Service Center for her annual show on Dec. 6, performing there for the first time with her new dance partner, Bob Goot of Centereach.
Their partnership has amplified their passions for dance and helped them further improve their skills, they said.
“We both have very similar goals,” Gambone said. “We both are driven to dance as much as we can. We both are passionate about the dancing and having our audiences see that.”
While Gambone recently got into dance, Goot jumped back into it six years ago after about a 20-year hiatus, he said.
He danced competitively in his 20s and once appeared on the TV show “Star Search,” he said.
They met each other through a Long Island dance teacher they both know, and since then it’s been a natural fit, they said. They’ll also be performing in the Catskills next week during Stardust Ballroom Dance Weekend at Honor’s Haven Resort & Spa.
“You have to have that utter joy that Lynne talks about and that passion, but you also have to be able to step back and appreciate what the other people bring to the table,” Goot said. “… In our case, it doesn’t really seem to be an effort.”
Gambone’s performances are one of several arts and culture programs the Herricks Senior Community Service Center, based at the Herricks Community Center, offers for seniors from across Nassau County, said Carol McBride, the center’s director.
The center also serves lunch and sponsors games and other activities every Monday, Tuesday and Friday.
This year, Gambone and Goot will show off eight to 10 dances in their repertoire, including the salsa, cha cha, rhumba, waltz, fox trot, American tango, hustle, West Coast swing and East Coast swing, Gambone said.
The 50 to 90 seniors who attend the shows are always glad to see there’s an appreciation for the ballroom dances they danced when they were younger, Gambone said.
“I think it opens their world, maybe, or gives them an opportunity to see things that may not be so easily accessible to them just because of transportation issues,” McBride said.
Gambone and Goot’s free performance will start at 12:30 p.m. on Tuesday, Dec. 6, at the Herricks Community Center, located at 999 Herricks Road in New Hyde Park.
