Swing High, Swing Low

Inside the studio, the Eight Week Wonders are huffing and puffing through their newest routine, "Life Goes to a Party."

The Virginia State Open competition is one month away.

Up close, the routine looks a bit ragged.

Kevin Connor, a loss-prevention analyst for the insurance industry, gets lost trying to execute the kick steps of the Charleston while traveling around a circle of dance partners. He's supposed to join hands to dance a few synchronized kick steps with each woman before kick-stepping on to the next partner -- and all without actually kicking anyone by mistake. At one point, Connor realizes he's out of sync, briefly comes to a complete stop, and laughs at himself.

Looking on, Koerner shakes his head fondly. "If I told these guys we were going to do a new routine where we'd all be throwing each other around at 200 miles per hour, they'd show up and try to do it," Koerner says. "They are somewhat delusional . . .

"I feel like the guy in the 'The Music Man' who was selling the big parade. There is a scene in the movie when the townspeople look at their children and believe that they really are wearing great uniforms and playing shiny new instruments. Because we have these goofy outfits and dance to these really fast songs, there is this illusion that we are channeling the great Lindy Hoppers from the Savoy Ballroom. But none of us are. We're all about two-and-a-half minutes of fun in the sun."

For some of the newer members of the Eight Week Wonders, the Virginia State Open will be their first dance competition.

"I'm a wreck," says Kathy Schwartz, a court administrator who is Connor's partner in dance and in life. "I don't want to be the one who messes up for the other members of the team."

Schwartz and Connor are so determined not to let the team down that they've been practicing nightly in their Bowie home. They shove the kitchen table off to one side and tie up the pendant light fixture so they can spin across the linoleum.

Schwartz isn't half as worried about executing the moves as she is about facing the judges. "I am incredibly shy," she says. "My throat closes up thinking about getting up in front of a crowd. I have to take my glasses off when we perform so I can't see people looking at us."

Frank Morra, 61, has been swing dancing since the 1950s and once landed a guest spot on "American Bandstand."

Today, he's a scientist who helps design electricity-generating plants. A member of the Eight Week Wonders since 2001, he's not at all sure the team should bother entering dance competitions.