JAY – As the lyrics to Mambo No. 5, “One, two, three, four, five, everybody in the car so let’s ride,” played over the speakers, Jay teenagers rocked and twirled as they learned to swing dance Friday.

They started slow as professional dance couple Keith Heavrin and Donna Foster, both of Surry, gave them step-by-step instruction in the cafeteria at Jay High School.

English and drama teacher Kristel Anuszewski, who had helped some of her students in the drama program learn swing last year, wrote a grant to teach all of the students at the school how to swing dance. The teens were practicing for the Spring Swing Community Dance Friday evening with live music by Three Button Deluxe.

Heavrin told the boys to be patient and try not to look at their feet. Foster told the girls that some of them would learn the leader’s steps, traditionally done by the male, because there were more girls than boys in the group.

“Swing dance came out a long time ago,” Heavrin said. “Blues, rock ‘n’ roll and black music is what created swing . . . Swing dance led to some of the hip-hop steps you’re learning today.”

Foster and Heavrin demonstrated steps and showed how a dance couple mirror each others steps by starting on the opposite foot.

“Once you have vocabulary and a little bit of the basics, you can go and create your own dance,” Heavrin said.

It took a little bit of doing but most sophomores partnered-up girl-boy. Some girls, shy at first, chose to partner with girls, but by the middle of the lesson, they had ventured to partner with boys.

Several boys on the other hand, decided they would stick it out in the “bachelor” corner, though some were coaxed to the dance floor by women teachers and school nurse Jackie Kilbreth.

Most students liked the dance, a few didn’t.

Jonathan Beaudette, 16, and Kristin Allison, 15, had some help from Foster as they went through the moves of both leader and follower as well as rock steps and turns.

“I don’t know how to dance,” Beaudette had said prior to starting. “I’m not really nervous. I think it will be kind of fun.”

After a few dances, Beaudette determined it was really fun but he had enough.

“It was fun. A little bit difficult but fun,” Allison agreed.

Stephanie Frost, 15, and Steven Legault, 16, practiced the dance steps and Frost was spinning in her turns; perfecting the move as the couple tried it over and over again.

Seniors Amanda Hawkins, 18, and Megan Cox, 18, had watched the freshmen dance while they waited for their session later in the day.

“It looks like a lot of fun,” Hawkins said. “It looked at first like it might be hard to get into and hard to start, but once you start it’s really addicting and fun to get into.”

“If you pay attention to the instructors, it looks really easy,” Cox said.

Freshman Molly Hinkel, 13, had already had her lesson and watched sophomores learn.

“I think it’s awesome. It think it’s amazing. It’s really fun. It’s too bad people don’t do it much anymore.”

Foster said she and Heavrin are trying to teach young people the love of dancing.

“We just want to create more dancers and spread the joy of dancing but the most important thing is that it is a lifelong skill,” Foster said.