I intended to go back to Austrailia, he said. I got a degree at Penn State in physical education, specializing in exercise physiology.

But Carroll is still in America and he has found something he believes is worth sticking with.

I want to get people dancing get them confident and enjoying themselves, Carroll said. It’s a lifetime activity.

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Carroll said he and his wife stayed in America more by chance than by choice.

I was broke. My wife and I had decided to come to SIU, where they offered me a job, Carroll said. We had planned to stay for one year, and that was in 1969. It’s been a pretty long year.

Carroll, who also teaches acquatics and fitness, said he has had requests over the years from students wanting to learn a specific dance.

I had some people who were going to get married in three months say, we want to learn the waltz for the wedding.’

I also had some students come to me saying their grandparents were German and they (the students) needed to learn the polka.

The dance instructor and his wife brush up on their steps at the Herrin Club most Saturday evenings.

The club has bands come in from all over, he said. There could be anywhere from 150 to 200 people on the dance floor.

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Paducah also has a good dance community. But Carbondale does not really have a place for dancers to go.

Carroll is working to reverse that fact, as he is participating in SIUC’s dance club and hopes to form a competitive dance team later in the year.

We are going to hold a dance November 29 at the Student Center ballroom. Then, maybe, we can develop a competitive team.

I don’t want to kill the interest in dancing for those who don’t like competitive dancing, so we’ll cater to both types of dancers.

The dance club will meet Tuesday nights, with beginning dancers meeting from 6 p.m. to 7:30 and experienced dancers from 7:30 to 9 p.m., he said.

We’ve also decided to hold a recreational dance time on Mondays from 7 p.m. to 9 p.m., Carroll said. Whoever comes on those nights, they can make requests. We also encourage people who come in from other countries to teach us their dance.

I thought a few years ago that the students were just filling hours when they took the class, he said. Now, I think people are taking the class because they want to dance.