Wendy Parker

The Foxtrotters Ballroom Dance Club is disbanding at the end of this month, after 21 years of events at the East Cobb Senior Center. A farewell dance will take place there on June 22.

A steep increase in fees for renting out the event for their dances is the reason for the decision to shut down the group, Foxtrotters president Barbara Digulla told East Cobb News.

Like other groups and individuals who have been using the East Cobb Senior Center, the Foxtrotters have been affected by proposed activity fee increases for senior centers across the county to address Cobb’s current $30 million budget deficit.

At a January town hall meeting in January at the East Cobb Senior Center, Boyce told seniors upset about the proposals that “we’re all in this together” in terms of resolving the county’s fiscal crisis.

While some seniors didn’t object to paying a $60 annual membership fee, groups that meet at senior centers were alarmed by the high increases that commissioners are being asked to approve.

The Foxtrotters have paid $120 a month to Cobb Senior Services for the use of the facility for their monthly dances.

That cost could jump to $540 an event, if the proposed fee increases are approved when the commissioners finalize the budget in July. The hours for their dances also were pushed up from 7-10 p.m. to 6-9 p.m., with the county citing security reasons.

The Foxtrotters said the changing hours negatively affected turnout, and they hire their own security guard for their dances. Digulla said she was able to negotiate a 7-10 p.m. window for their final dance on June 22.

She said around a third of those coming for the dances are from well beyond the Cobb area, including DeKalb and Gwinnett counties and elsewhere.

“We’ve accepted it,” Digulla said about the end of the group. She said she and other dance club members “tried every possibility there is in this area” to find another place for their events, including churches and community centers.

She said that typically 45-55 people attend a dance, but attendance has been down 20 to 30 percent since the new fees kicked in.

Digulla said the Foxtrotters are required to pay for a security guard that cost $80 an event. Combined with that and the rental fee, along with around $500 an event for bands, each dance cost in the range of $650 to $750 a month.

To have to pay nearly double that, between $1,100 to $1,200 a month, and on short notice, “is ridiculous,” Digulla said.

The Foxtrotters aren’t the first senior dance group to shut down in the wake of the new Cobb senior activity fees.

The Stardust Dance Ballroom Dance Group that held events at the West Cobb Senior Center also is closing down, due to the proposed fee increases, and is having three final dances this year at a senior center in Paulding County.

The Cobb Board of Commissioners is scheduled to adopt the fiscal year 2019 budget in July. The senior fee increases were initially delayed as Boyce held senior town hall meetings, but they went into effect this spring.

Launched in 1997 by founding members Naomi Davis and Jan Henkleman, the Foxtrotters are geared toward seniors, with attendance open to those 55 and older.

In 2014, the Foxtrotters were featured on Atlanta public radio station WABE during National Ballroom Dance Week.

They used to have another senior dance group, the Flamingos, who met at the Windy Hill Senior Center, but that group disbanded when the center closed in 2011.

The Foxtrotters farewell event begins June 22, 21 years and two days after their first event at the East Cobb Senior Center. The cost is $15 a person, with music provided by The Continentals Band and the theme “I’ve Got the Sun in the Morning.”

Digulla said around 70 people have signed up to attend, enough to provide a free buffet meal as the Foxtrotters have their last dance.

As a Foxtrotters Facebook page message indicated:

“Let’s say goodbye in style and pay tribute to the best social event East Cobb has ever known!”

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