Romance and costumes: Why Bay Area ‘nerds’ are turning to 19th century ballroom dance

John Ruzicka wasn’t quite himself when he stepped into the large, stately room at the top of a grand staircase in the Elks Lodge in downtown Alameda.

On that Tuesday night in November, as on most Tuesdays, the room was being used as a classroom for Ruzicka and more than two dozen others to learn the dances and social etiquette of the 19th century English ballroom. Ruzicka had dressed for the part. Donning a Regency-era men’s tailcoat, waistcoat and ruffled shirt, the theater actor, writer...