It's contagious and there's no way to avoid it. People of all ages want to move their feet - and even more - to rhythm.

Probably 98 percent of children find music irresistible, said Libby Chiaradonna, music teacher at The Elegant Child preschool and kindergarten in Wildwood. She sings nursery rhymes and songs they know, accompanies them on her guitar and does story time with children as young as six weeks old.

"Once they are old enough to come to my room, we work on basic concepts - fast and slow, loud and soft, rhythm and melody - always just to have fun, not for a test. We do a lot of dancing in there," she laughed, noting how they learn how to avoid chaos. Rather than every child taking over the center of the "dance floor," he or she claims a spot on a rectangular rug with numbers in the middle, letters on the edge.

Young children learn to follow directions, like "freeze," as they stamp their feet, fly like a bird and roll their arms and participate in the music. Chiaradonna places high priority on parents recognizing good sources of available music for their children. She makes her own choices available to parents in her classroom and Elegant Child's library for parents to use.

Kacy Voskuil, artistic director of St. Louis Academy of Dance in Olivette, credits television for fueling a flame in youths to dance. "We like to start them young, then they can decide with opportunities for recreational dance from kids to adults, as well as kids who want to go on to a professional career," she said.

Dancing, she noted, has long been recognized as exercise.

"It provides physical strength, cardiovascular benefits, it tones, and for little kids teaches them discipline and etiquette and improves their gross motor (skills). They learn social cues, waiting their turn. As they get older, it instills a balance in their lives," she said.

Voskuil said the girls ages 11 to 18 who perform in Pazazz, Academy of Dance's house dance company, study dance at least three hours a week to participate in performances. "We always instill school as No. 1 commitment, but most are honor-roll students. They learn to give it a priority, more over a slumber party than school. Yet, we hold out open arms for the kids who want to dance for fun."

On Dec. 12, Pazazz will hold its first gala, a benefit for its own company's needs, but also for Drea's Dream, following the Andrea Rizzo Foundation goal to help children with cancer and special needs through the power of dance.

To encourage dance for all ages, the academy holds free trial classes today and tomorrow, Aug. 25 and 26, and a trial class by reservation during September.

Other people prefer to dance with a partner.

Linda Landwehr and Stan Meyer have taught social dances at St. Charles Community College for 16 years. After 30 years of experience in competition and instruction in the community, they teach diverse dances seven days a week at the college and host a dance twice a month in Dardenne Prairie.

"Practice helps them retain what they learn," Landwehr said. "It's like a sport, where you build up and reinforce the muscle memory."

Some students come as couples to polish up special dances for their own or a child's wedding.

"We teach a lot of couples, but we also do a lot of father-daughter dances and mother-son ones, too," she said, relishing videos she sees after weddings. "There is nothing better than to see the joy in their faces when they get finished with their dance routine."

Landwehr points to 2005 as a peak of interest, when television's "Dancing with the Stars" and "So You Think You Can Dance" thrust ballroom dancing into the spotlight and generated 80 people per class, six classes running back to back. That style remains popular, but she sees a bit of an upswing in Western and line dancing now.

"More men are buying gift certificates for their wives," she said. "Even when a man is reluctant at first, once he gets in there, he gets the dance bug. We have had students up to eight or 10 years."

Trenda Roch von Rochsburg, project coordinator for continuing education at St. Charles Community College, said that in spite of a tight economy, the number of students taking dance classes holds firm. She noted that line dancing and other dances offered at the college, like Mideastern dancing and hula for health, are popular for those who want to dance to a beat without a designated partner.

Even without lessons, people like to dance.

Center of Creative Arts (COCA) in University City posts choreographed steps on a www.YouTube.com video for "flash mobs," so anyone can show up and seemingly erupt as a group in dance. Its dance plan for the Community Street Dance on Sept. 25 at Grand Center will be online this week, while another dance event will follow soon thereafter on Oct. 2 at COCA's Community Day.