When members of the UW-Madison DanceSport competitive ballroom dance team rehearse for an upcoming performance, the steps sizzle. The skirts flap. The turns snap.

Or they're supposed to, anyway, with a little practice.

"Let's do the Argentine crosses and the half turns. Let's make that ending look tight," coach Dakota Windancer instructed nine college-aged couples recently as they polished a group finale in Memorial Union's Great Hall. Show time loomed in 24 hours until show time.

Madonna belted out "La Isla Bonita" from a boombox.

"OK, guys," Windancer reminded the dancers as they lined up for the sassy dance number. "Posture and presence, OK? Posture and presence."

Welcome to the new era of ballroom dance - increasingly, a pastime-turned-passion in Madison. Advertisement:

Windancer's team formed just last year and already boasts 20 members training for competitions. (Several members will travel to Ohio on Saturday for the collegiate national championships, part of the Ohio Star Ball that will be broadcast on PBS). Another UW group, the longtime Badger Ballroom Dance Team, nearly doubled its roster this year and now has 40 dancers.

And still another UW institution, the "social dance" sponsored by the UW-Madison Ballroom Dance Association (fondly known as "YOO-umb- da"), typically attracts 100 amateur and serious dancers to the dance floor each week, including students and the general public.

The ballroom bug isn't limited to campus: Madison is home to numerous ballroom dance schools that teach everything from the foxtrot to the merengue, and offers enough options that dancers can take a low-cost spin on the dance floor several times a week.

"It's a nice, safe place to meet people," says Tom Choudoir, who runs DanceSport of Madison and sometimes leads dance workshops on the UW campus. In fact, say instructors, the No. 1 motivator for people wanting to take dance lessons is to find the perfect partner.

If lightning strikes during a three-minute mambo with a stranger, then, well, congratulations.

"And if it doesn't go well," says Choudoir, "you say 'Thank you very much,' and it's only been two minutes out of your life."

The tango is back Of course any ballroom dance begins with a proper introduction. So for the unfamiliar, a basic primer:

Ballroom dancing can be "social" (and open to anyone who knows a few basic steps - or is willing to learn them), or it can be "competitive" and part of a fast-paced, precision- driven world where the cha-cha and the waltz are taken to the level of high athletic art.

Either way, it's a workout, says Choudoir, who's taught ballroom dance for nearly three decades. For seven years he's been an instructor at Edgewood High School, where students earn a P.E. credit for taking lessons. Some of his private students are well into their 70s or 80s.

Over his career, Choudoir has seen crazes come and go: First disco, which brought back "people dancing with each other," and more recently the Lambada, a six-month fad. Today's hot dances include the Argentine Tango, Lindy Hop and West Coast Swing, he says.

But the biggest change Choudoir has witnessed is that ballroom dance is no longer square - and dancers are heading to the floor at a younger age. Even males.

"Yeah, this is Wisconsin," he says, "and there's a certain amount of guys who aren't going to go out on the dance floor. But that number is getting smaller and smaller."

Gone are the days when the male needs to lead every step, says Charles Rentmeesters, a local dance instructor who coaches the Badger Ballroom Dance Team.

"The old sexist ideas of ballroom need to be a thing of the past," he says. "You're both out there and you both have to dance well. The more advanced you get, the more (successful dancing) is based on cooperation."

Amelia Buragas, who met her husband on the dance floor when she was an undergrad at the University of Illinois, performs competitively and helps teach Rentmeesters' team. She credits recent TV series like "So You Think You Can Dance" and "Dancing With the Stars" for raising the profile of ballroom dance and attracting so many new faces.

"The shows make it a little trendier," in part by using "non-traditional" music, she says. "People realize you don't have to be a huge fan of Frank Sinatra. You can dance to Britney Spears."

Ashley Harris, a member of UW-Madison DanceSport, didn't take ballet or tap as a kid, but became "addicted" to ballroom dance during her freshman year of college. A junior majoring in Spanish and nursing, she also lines up instructors for UWMBDA's weekly dance classes. (The next class is from 6-9 p.m. Thursday in Union South, followed by a social dance featuring the mambo on Saturday from 8 p.m. to midnight at Memorial Union.)

"I think it's a really great social activity, because you actually get to do something with other people," Harris says.

"Sometimes people are looking for something to do as a couple, rather than go to the movies and sit," agrees Gwen Engel, who runs The Right Step dance studio along with Windancer. "Some couples come because they want to learn to dance for their wedding."

Lou and Dottie Sileo have danced in the Madison area for 25 years and teach beginning ballroom dance through a community education program in Verona.

Although good dancers can create the illusion of passion and glamour on the dance floor, that tantalizing tango takes work, says Lou Sileo. Ballroom dance "is really not romantic for me," he admits, "because the guy is leading, he's responsible for not running into anybody else and staying in the line of dance.

"We have said often that ballroom dancing is like canoeing and hanging wallpaper," he says. "If a couple can do that together, well, you can do anything."

Singles welcome And about that couple thing: Although ballroom dance is done in pairs, you are more than welcome to arrive at a dance solo.

This week alone, there are at least 10 public dances scheduled in the Madison area, from various events at Park Ponderosa Ballroom to a Madison West-Coast Swing dance at the Badger Bowl and an open dance at Turners Hall.

It helps to take a few lessons first, though.

"Our classes are open to anyone who wants to learn and have fun dancing," says Thitiporn Nent Sanguanpiyapan, a graduate student in consumer science and competitive dancer with the UW DanceSport Team. Sanguanpiyapan, a native of Thailand, notes that her team includes students from 12 countries.

"You don't need any sport background at all," she says. "The skill is very different than other sports. It requires a lot of coordination."

Dance engages the mind as well as the body, she notes. "Besides being a fun social activity ... many people find peace of mind, or find themselves to be the happiest when they are ballroom dancing."