COEUR d’ALENE — Beneath the soft glow of festive lights, a swinging dance party began.

The dancers nervously giggled or blushed at a wrong step while rotating partners during the dance lesson at the beginning of the evening. But then their eyes lit up and their smiles were unstoppable as they began to flow in sync and a clarinet melody oozed from the speakers.

And once the band came alive, the dancers at the Plaza Christmas Ball began to jive.

"I love it," said Coeur d'Alene resident Rhonda Hagenstein, who attended the ball with her husband, Tony. "It's happy music. I love big band. That's one of my favorites. It's an easy dance to dance to. You don't have to know dance lessons and it connects with every age, too."

No skates could be found on the roller rink Sunday evening — only dancing shoes. This was the sixth year for the Plaza Christmas Ball, which had elegant seating for more than 300 people and welcomed guests of all ages and dancing abilities.

Rhonda, a former vice president for the Spokane Swing Dance Club, said she was pleased to see the age variety among the attendees.

"One of my biggest things was I wanted to bring the young kids into it, and I love seeing how they’re coming out,” she said. "It's nice to see them listen to music from our parents."

“One of my favorite things with her, every time I take her to the dance floor, that’s the look on her face," Tony said, gesturing to Rhonda's brilliant smile. "She's been at it quite a long time, longer than me. I love it."

MasterClass Big Band provided the music and set the flavor of the evening with an opening song of Glenn Miller's classic "In the Mood." Dancers kicked up their feet and put the dance lesson to use as they bopped, tapped, swayed and moved to their hearts' content.

Debby Dahlke, who co-organizes the event with her husband, Ken, said the whole thing started years ago when they threw a ball in the Kroc Center's triple gym.

“We don’t like dancing in crowded rooms,” she said. "We just thought that was so cool to have that big of a room to do it in."

This year's ball featured Balboa swing dancing, which was popular during the 1930s and ’40s, but dancers also enjoyed ballroom and other styles of swing dancing.

The event is formal and vintage-formal, so outfits ranged from crisp tuxes and lovely gowns to military dress and spiffy Scottish kilts.

"It was our goal to do an elegant event that was accessible to everybody price-wise," Debby said. "We wanted to make it formal, but some people don’t have formal stuff, so we made it vintage-formal as well. We get a lot of young people who will go to the vintage shops and they find really cool formal stuff and it’s way less expensive. It’s made it really, really fun."