Michael Pecina plans to wear out his dancing shoes during the 2008 Florida State DanceSport Championship at the Ritz-Carlton in Sarasota this week.

Pecina, owner of Creative Dancing, a new dance studio in Lakewood Ranch, is scheduled to perform 150 dances in a competition that features ballroom, Latin and dance theater aesthetics.

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That sounds like a lot of footwork for the professional dancer. He'll have his partner, Susanne Rodriguez, at his side for most of the competition. Other local dancers from the Sarasota/Bradenton area also will compete alongside dancers from across the United States.

"It's like 'Dancing With the Stars,' " Pecina said of the event. "But everyone works longer and harder."

The DanceSport Championship makes its eighth appearance in Sarasota, attracting 600 participants and hopefully twice as many spectators, said Larry Dean, who, with his wife, Dianne, produces three major dance competitions a year.

The events typically attract large crowds who can't get enough of dancing thanks to TV shows like "So You Think You Can Dance" and "Dancing With the Stars."

"These reality dance shows have created quite a turnout," said Dean. "Not just for spectators but competitors, too. There's a lot of newcomers to dance."

There are 6,000 registered DanceSport professionals in the United States, which is 5,800 more than 15 years ago, according to Dance Consultants Unlimited, Inc.

Husbands and wives, boyfriends and girlfriends, friends and even children have picked up dance as a hobby. The age range for the DanceSport Championships in Sarasota start at 5 and 6 years old and goes up to 90-year-olds, Dean said.

The Sarasota event is the biggest dance competition in Florida, Pecina said.

The championship also will have special performances by World Latin Dance champions Riccardo Cocchi and Yulia Zagoruychenko and World 10 Dance champions Alain Doucet and Anik Jolicoeur.

The championship will have five main categories: International standard and American smooth, which features the ballroom-style of waltz, tango, foxtrot, Viennese waltz, Peabody and the quickstep; International Latin and American rhythm, which features the rumba, cha-cha, wwing, mambo, merengue, bolero, jive and paso doble; and theater arts, an interpretive dance filled with dramatic lifts and ballet-appeal.

Dancers will be involved in one or more categories, including amateur couples, professional couples and a mix between the two.

Pecina and Rodriguez will perform American-style dances competing as a pro/am couple. They bring a total of 27 years experience to the dance floor. Pecina has been dancing for 25 years, Rodriguez for only two, but she has already won numerous awards for her performances.

Rodriguez said she got involved with dance as an alternative to working out at the gym.

Ballroom dancing is considered a form of aerobic exercise. Performing the quickstep for 1.5 minutes is as beneficial as running 800 meters, according to Sports Illustrated.

Video Clip 2007 Florida DanceSport Championships

But dancing, for many, is more fun.

"It just feels good to do it," Rodriguez said. If you go

What: Florida State DanceSport Championships

When: 7:30 p.m. Tuesday, all day starting at 8 a.m. Wednesday through Saturday, awards ceremony 8:45 a.m. Sunday

Where: Ritz-Carlton, 1111 Ritz Carlton Drive, Sarasota

Tickets: $15 morning session, $20 afternoon session and $15-$45 evening session.

Information: 309-2000 or www.flstatedance.com