How St. Mary's City Became Maryland's Unlikeliest Ballroom Hotspot

At 7:15 on a Tuesday night, the parking lot at The Spinning Steps is already full. Inside Studio B, twenty beginners are attempting the basic waltz box step while instructor Maria Delgado circles the floor, adjusting a shoulder here, a frame there. In Studio A, Isabella Torres and Ethan James are running through a lift they've rehearsed for weeks—one that won them gold at last November's Chesapeake Ballroom Open. Three years ago, this scene would have been unthinkable in St. Mary's City, a historic Maryland outpost of roughly 600 residents squeezed between the Potomac River and the Chesapeake Bay. Today, the studios are packed, the competitions are multiplying, and a handful of dancers are starting to crack the national circuit.

Ballroom's foothold here has always been modest. For decades, serious dancers drove north to Baltimore or D.C. for instruction and events. That began shifting around 2021, when pandemic-weary residents started seeking structured social outlets closer to home. According to the Southern Maryland Arts Coalition, combined enrollment at ballroom studios in St. Mary's County jumped 34% between 2022 and 2024. Three new studios have opened in the city itself since 2022, and two existing schools doubled their floor space.

"The phone started ringing and it never stopped," says Delgado, who founded The Spinning Steps in 2019. "We went from eight competitive couples to twenty-six in three years." Her studio has since produced three USA Dance regional champions and one national semifinalist. The Waltz Haven, opened in 2022 by former American Ballroom Theatre dancer Robert Chen, focuses on classical styles and now enrolls roughly 120 students weekly. The Salsa Swing, launched last year, has capitalized on a younger cohort drawn to Latin rhythms via social media; its TikTok account, run by instructor Denise Okonkwo, has 47,000 followers.

The Dancers Breaking Through

The local talent pool has deepened accordingly. Torres and James, both 22, are the scene's most visible success story. They met as teenagers at a St. Mary's County Parks & Recreation social dance and began competing internationally last year, placing fourth in the Amateur Standard division at the Ohio Star Ball. Their routine is technically demanding—James is a former gymnast whose tumbling background allows for throws most amateur couples avoid—but it's their deliberate restraint that catches judges' eyes. "They don't rush," says Chen, who has judged them twice. "Even in a quickstep, there's breathing room."

Liam O'Connor, 24, took a different path. Trained in ballet at the Baltimore School for the Arts, he switched to ballroom after a foot injury ended his classical ambitions. His ballet background shows in unusual ways: he trains his partners in port de bra arm styling, a technique rarely taught in ballroom curricula, and his competitive routines often incorporate lifts borrowed from nineteenth-century ballet pas de deux. "Ballroom lets me keep the partnering without the pointe shoes," O'Connor says. He and his current partner, Rachel Voss, placed second in the Open Smooth division at last year's Mid-Atlantic Championships.

Sophia Nguyen, 19, has emerged as the city's most exciting Latin specialist. Her cha-cha—sharp, fast, and deliberately theatrical—won her the amateur title at the 2024 D.C. DanceSport Classic. Nguyen grew up in Lexington Park, a ten-minute drive from St. Mary's City, and started dancing at age seven after her parents, Vietnamese immigrants, enrolled her in a community-center salsa class. "In Latin dance, your face has to work as hard as your feet," she says. "That's where I live."

Growing Pains on the Scene's Fringe

The boom isn't frictionless. St. Mary's City lacks a dedicated performance venue large enough to host a full-size ballroom competition, which means local events are staged in hotel ballrooms in Solomons or Leonardtown, thirty minutes away. Competitive travel is expensive—Torres and James estimate their 2024 travel and costume costs at $18,000—and few dancers have sponsorships. There's also a stylistic tension brewing. Chen notes that his traditional ballroom enrollment skews older, while Latin and social-dance classes at The Salsa Swing are packed with teenagers and twenty-somethings. "The question is whether they stay once the TikTok novelty wears off," he says.

Delgado is more optimistic. She has spent the past year lobbying the St. Mary's County government to convert a vacant waterfront warehouse into a 500-seat ballroom and event space. The proposal is currently under review. "We have the talent," she says. "What we need now is the infrastructure."