MISSOULA, MT - If television is so influential, people would be dancing in the streets.

Oh, but it is. And who knows? They might yet take to the streets.

Sandy Lawler, owner and dance instructor at The Dance Studio in Missoula, said television super-shows such as “Dancing With the Stars” generate a lot of business for her, even in a town without a lot of dancing space.

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Lawler is taking a group of students to the 17th annual City of Roses Ballroom Classic in Portland, Ore., this weekend.

“We'll be doing a cha-cha routine,” Lawler said. “A hot-and-spicy Latin dance.”

In addition, the Missoula contingent will dance in formation teams made up of four couples, as well as individual couples dancing.

“It will be all eight of us on the dance floor at the same time,” Lawler said. “The judging is for costuming and choreography.”

This will be Lawler's seventh competition, and she's taken teams to three competitions now.

“Teams change over the years,” she said. “Lives change, your health changes, things change.”

Lawler has had competitive students ranging in age from 15 to couples in their late 60s.

“ ‘Dancing with the Stars,' ” Lawler said, “created a huge increase in awareness of ballroom dancing.”

Especially for men.

“They can see ordinary men - well, they can see athletes like Emmitt Smith (a former contestant on the show) - but they can also see ordinary men learn how to dance and learn how to dance well.”

Eli Rice didn't find ballroom dancing because of the show, but he was one of those ordinary guys.

“I used to be the typical white-guy-can't-dance thing,” Rice said. “I was self-conscious when there was music playing.”

Rice and his wife, Dakota Cannavaro, started dancing with Lawler 2 1/2 years ago, and this will be their second competition.

“When I went to high school, I went over to a friend's house and watched ‘Strictly Ballroom,' ” Cannavaro said.

That sparked the interest that she carried with her until she met a partner.

“We like to foxtrot down supermarket aisles,” her partner said. “We once did the rhumba while waiting for a seat at the Red Lobster in Coeur d'Alene (Idaho).”

Rice and Cannavaro will be dancing an American/Argentine tango mix at the Portland completion.

It begs the question: What's the difference?

“A lot,” Rice said.

“American tango is very linear with set patterns that happen at every measure. You do certain turns. Argentine tango is very improvisational. Every beat can change what's happening.”

Cannavaro doesn't watch much television, so rarely saw “Dancing with the Stars.”

But she and Rice started ballroom dancing about the same time the show first aired.

“People would say, ‘Oh, did you start dancing because of “Dancing With the Stars?” ' ” Cannavaro said. “Well, no, we didn't.”

It does give people a commonality though.

“People say, ‘Oh, I know what that is,' instead of saying: ‘That's that weird sport people do in other countries?' ”

Lawler, Rice and Cannavaro all agree Missoula just doesn't have enough space to dance.

“There just aren't many places to go,” Cannavaro said. “Right now we go to the Elks Club, but for the amount of people we get, it gets really crowded.”

Ballroom has become a huge part of their lives.

“That's why we stayed in Missoula,” Rice said. “We'll hopefully build a nice dance floor and teach.”

In addition to Rice and Cannavaro, Lawler will take five more students with her to Portland.

The majority of her students aren't looking for the fancy drops and beautiful ballet lines evident on “Dancing with the Stars.”

“Most of these people want to learn to get around the dance floor and not bump into anybody,” Lawler said.

For some, at least, dancing is just a great thing, no matter what they were influenced by.

“I love the movement, the passion and the emotion that is there,” Cannavaro said. “It's an incredible thing to do with a partner.”