Congressman Bill Huizenga (R-MI 2nd) is hosting a ballroom dance class tonight in Washington D.C.
According to a story by Niraj Chokshi in the National Journal, Huizenga is charging $1,000 per couple and $1,500 for political action committees. Proceeds are going to his reelection campaign.
Huizenga has been a dancer for a long time, according to a piece in the Holland Sentinel. His mother moved from Flint to Chicago when she was 19 to pursue her dreams as a dancer.
She later opened her own dance studio and when she moved to Holland, Michigan.
Congressman Huizenga told the Sentinel that his mother taught him to dance:
"I remember learning the swing in the kitchen in fourth and fifth grades, " Bill Huizenga said. " I was the only kid I knew who could do the fox trot." Dance helped him meet his wife, Natalie, mingle with local leaders and earn a living just out of college. Bill and Natalie had mutual friends at Calvin College and even lived in the same dorm, but somehow never connected until their last year. They didn't meet until Natalie needed a dance partner for a performance.
When Huizenga graduated from college, he taught dance classes at Dance Today, the studio that his mother and sister ran.
Huizenga's students included a few students who would be important in his future, like Dick Devos.
- Lucy Perkins, Michigan Radio Newsroom
*H/T Zoe Clark
