The PlayMor Ballroom in Lincoln is one of the few places you can still get a taste of big band music and dancing. Many of these people have been coming here for years. When they step out on this dance floor, it's like a step back in time when big band music dominated the scene and when people still dressed up for a night on the town.

90-year-old Bruce Pittan was here opening day when the PlayMor first opened its doors back in 1930. Close to 70 years later, he still makes it his priority to dance. Walking isn't as easy as it used to be, but once Pittman steps on the dance floor, he is in a different world.

[Bruce Pittan] It's good clean fun. Everybody's friendly. Met a lot of friends and got acquainted with a lot of people we never would have imagined getting acquainted with.

Pittman holds the record for coming out here longer than anyone else, but others are just as dedicated. For many of these people, dancing is a way of life and it has been for 50 and 60 years and they don't intend on stopping anytime soon.

[Anita Severe] I started coming out here when I had gotten out of high school. I guess just learn as you go.

[Gizella Balla] Oh, I love to dance. It's my favorite to come dancing. We dance a lot. We go four times a week.

Today big band music doesn't have nearly the following it had back in the 1940's and 1950's.

[Bobby Layne] It's gone through cycles. Actually at -- for quite a while the big band scene was it. Everybody was doing big band music. Then rock and roll entered into the picture and later country music and the big band music was always there, it just got moved to a side slightly.

Bobby Layne has owned the PlayMor for more than 20 years. Once it was one of many thriving ballrooms in Lincoln attracting big names and acts from all over the country. Now it's the only one left in the capital city.

[Layne] It seems that every town and city had at least one ballroom. And these were the social gathering places for their weddings, their social functions, and whatever. At one time our town had five ballrooms, all quite nice and going strong. We're down to one. This is the only one left.

The Oak Ballroom in Schuyler is one of the most well-known and well-preserved ballrooms in Nebraska. It was built during the Depression in 1936. President Franklin Roosevelt formed programs to get people back to work. The Works Project Administration also known as the W.P.A. was one of them and skilled craftsmen created this piece of Nebraska history. A Columbus architect by the name of Amele Christianson was hired to design the structure and he made sure this was no ordinary ballroom.

[Joan Bideaux, manager] The building itself was designed by Mr. Christianson from columbus and we have the original plans and the man was a master at plans. I think we were very fortunate that he was in charge of this and that the community of Schuyler backed him the way they did.

Inside dozens of oak trees line the edges of the dance floor giving it a woodsy appeal and making it one of a kind. But it wasn't easy getting the oak trees inside the ballroom.

[Harry Chronister] This is a big event. All this lumber here came from the Platte River, pieces of oak and that was the crowning glory of the Oak Ballroom that it was built of local material.

[Bideaux] It's a beautiful building and very unusual. People come from all over and are just amazed at how they built this in the 1930's with these oak trees that came from right south of Schuyler and came in with horse and buggies.

Another unique feature of the Oak Ballroom, this painting of a wagon train on the Old Mormon Trail. It was originally painted in 1960 but a few years ago it was retouched. Employees wanted this painting to look like it did in its original form without taking away its charm, most notably the gold paint. Many people never forget the Oak Ballroom and they come back to relive their memories. Former State Senator Harry Chronister was here the night the Oak Ballroom first opened. Lawrence Welk and his band were the featured act. Chronister was a teenager and helped his dad sell tickets for 10 cents apiece.

[Chronister] He brought me out here on a lot of occasions and he would be taking tickets and as he did on opening night when Lawrence Welk played here and that was a big event for Schuyler. That was back in the 1930's, the good old Depression days.

Maybe there was magic in the air or in the oak trees back then because young love bloomed at the Oak Ballroom almost every night.

[Bideaux] A lot of them remember coming to the dances. A lot of them got engaged out here. I hear that story.

[Katherine Chronister] We came to the Thanksgiving dance in 1944 and after the dance Harry gave me my diamond ring. So it sort of has a tender spot in our hepers.

[Harry Chronister] She was stuck then.

Up until a few years ago, the ballroom featured live acts on the weekends ranging from big band to polka to country to rock and roll. During the rock and roll era, the Oak Ballroom still attracted famous acts and brought in a new generation of people.

[Wayne Gilson] One time we -- I remember we had the Box Tops and the Drifters here and it was a real good time we had here but the only thing that hurt us that time was that was when Colorado beat Nebraska. It kind of took the damper out of everything. Talk about something that brought back the old memories of the rock and roll days was the Drifters and the Box Tops.

One of the most popular groups here, Nebraska's own rock and roll group, The Rumbles. Some even joke that the Oak Ballroom was their special place. But as the years went by, crowds started to thin out little by little. Today these shiny floors made out of maple usually play host to weddings, anniversaries, and prom parties.

[Chronister] The big band era is over, too. There was only one big band era and that was great music.

[Bideaux] You know when I was growing up in high school in the 1940's, our dances were our big things, you know, and it isn't for the kids today. The television has hurt us. I think there's been a lot of kids that just aren't into the dancing like they used to be. I mean -- we did try and have a dance program. That didn't go over very well. People just are not into dancing like they were.

Unlike many other ballrooms in Nebraska that are now vacant or even demolished, the community of Schuyler stands behind this landmark. City money keeps it in tiptop shape. It's not easy maintaining the genuine oak design and shiny maple floor, but residents say it's worth it to keep the memory alive.

[Richard Folda] There are a lot of memories attached with it and people of all ages I'm sure enjoy it.

[Gilson] This was the place of anywhere around and there isn't too many of these around that are in the shape this is so like I say the community takes -- you know, this is one of the few things you can look at in this community and people always know the Oak Ballroom.

Though it may seem ballrooms may soon be a memory of the past, there's a revival of a different kind of dancing which may keep a hold on ballrooms even longer.

[D.J.] Are you tired? Far from it. Let's pick it up. Let's go.

Swing dancing is back in style. All over the country, a younger generation is learning how its grandparents and great grandparents used to burn up the dance floor. For some of these Generation Xers, they even dress the part.

[Nicole Clifton] It seems to me now it's even bigger and the music is really popular. You hear a lot more on the radio and you see a lot more swing bands coming around, coming into style so I think it's growing.

[Layne] It's nice they're exposed to several different kinds of music. For a while there it seemed like the kids were centered on just one type of music and now they're doing country, they're doing rock and roll and they discovered this thing called big band music and they're enjoying it.

And you can't miss 23-year-old Jake Fisher. He has been dancing since he was seven years old and now wears an authentic zoot suit when he tears up the dance floor. He has a genuine love for this kind of dance after all his parents taught him these moves. Now he teaches and dances competitively.

[Jake Fisher] I'm a show boater. I'm one of the swing dancers who just likes to get out there and show his moves. I do it more just to have fun but I get a rise out of the crowd just the same. It's a good style. It's a totally different feeling.

The few remaining ballrooms in Nebraska and throughout the country have their own unique appeal and every one has someone like Bruce Pittman who will never forget the days when big band music was king and as far as he is concerned, at least one night a week, it still is.

Reporting for Statewide, I'm Andrea Gallagher.

Captioning by Nebraska Captioning Center, Lincoln, Nebraska .