Bruce and Beth Perrotta

Beth Perrotta earned a masters degree in Special Education here in S. Florida and has taught special needs children for over 24 years. Along with being a professional teacher, she studied dance as a lifelong passion starting in middle school. With her focus on ballet and jazz she continued to perform throughout high school, college and beyond, dancing in musical productions with the “Pennington Players” professional theatre group in New Jersey. In the 80’s she trained in ballroom to enjoy social dancing. Many years later, shortly before meeting Bruce at Goldcoast Ballroom in 2002, she re-trained with local ballroom professionals which re-kindled her passion for dance and brought her to the dance scene in S. Florida.

Bruce Perrotta played semi-pro football for over 20 years. Getting to the point where the rigors of the game were catching up to him, Bruce found dancing to be “much easier on the body and that the people he lined up with were a lot better looking…” In 1998 the switch to dancing was a no-brainer for Bruce who is also an expert level chess player and National level champion in “miniatures/war-games/simulations. In 2000, he was exposed to the dark side, (West Coast Swing) and has been consumed with it ever since.

Bruce then became involved as a board member and served as president of the South Florida Swing Society, but has focused his energy the last few years at the grassroots level to work at the growth of the dance community. He has developed workshops weekends with national level instructors and dance evenings to share with the community. These activities elevate the level of dance through strong fundamental instruction and introduce new music and dance ideas from around the country. All of this adds up to a formula to encourage the South Florida dance community to grow and become a current part of the national dance scene.

Bruce and Beth began competing together around the country in West Coast Swing in 2003. They began training together in CA in 2005 with Skippy Blair’s Golden State Dance Teachers Association. After completing 180 hours of teacher training, they passed the GSDTA dance teachers certification exam. Bruce and Beth have now been teaching the GSDTA’s West Coast Swing curriculum for over 2 ½ years at Goldcoast Ballroom in Coconut Creek as well as the Palms Ballroom in Royal Palm Beach, Florida.

When Trish Berlanga, a local pro who directed and grew the Floorplay Dance Club dance for 7 years, relocated out of state, Bruce and Beth were asked by Trish and Floorplay owner, Mark Traynor, to become the new directors for Trish’s South Florida chapter. Bruce and Beth have run the club’s monthly dance at Floorplays’ new home, the Palms Ballroom in Royal Palm Beach,for the past year and a half.

Bruce and Beth are also owners of DanSynergy Inc. and creators and hosts of Swingin’ Friday’s weekly West Coast Swing dance party at Goldcoast Ballroom. They travel frequently on the NASDE (National Association of Swing Dance Events) circuit, competing in West Coast Swing. They continue to train with top professionals around the country, bringing back the most current style, information and ideas in West Coast Swing to the South Florida dance community.

Since 2004 Beth and Bruce have made their passion for dancing and their desire to grow their local dance community a priority. They have been teaching LA Style WCS and coordinating, funding and hosting West Coast Swing champions from the national level to introduce the local dance scene to the most current instruction in this evolving dance style.