We hold lessons in swing, salsa and various ballroom dances three times a week, all taught by our very charismatic and fun professional dance instructor Anastasia. At the end of the semester we like to attend some sort of social dancing event to show off our sweet new dance moves and celebrate a fantastic semester of dancing. Last fall we hosted our own dance event on campus — we all dressed up really fancy and danced swing and salsa to a live band. And just this past spring we attended a salsa and latin dancing event at the American Legion in Hadley. The Legion has these events every Friday and we are certainly planning some trips there this semester. We’re particularly looking forward to the Halloween themed salsa event at the Legion in October.
When does it meet?
We meet three times a week. Tuesdays we have beginning salsa from 7:30 to 8:30, intermediate/advanced from 8:30 to 9:30. Wednesdays we have beginning ballroom Latin dances (rumba, chacha, mambo etc.) from 7:30 to 8:30, and advanced/competitive ballroom from 8:30 to 9:30. Thursdays we have beginning swing from 7:30 to 8:30. We’re hoping to also teach intermediate/advanced swing later this semester or perhaps in the spring. All our lessons our held in the basement of Hamilton dorm.
How can people join?
Anyone can join, at any time! You don’t need any prior experience to join — no auditions or anything like that. You don’t need to come to all three days of lessons either — you pick which dance styles you’re most interested in. Just show up, bring a few friends for extra fun, and be ready for a good time. We welcome Five-College students as well and we are particularly interested in having more boys attend our lessons. Every woman loves a man who can dance, and we really have a much better time when everyone has a partner and girls aren’t forced to be leaders and followers!
What is so awesome about it?
Coming to dance with us in the evenings is the perfect study break, the perfect way to forget everything stressful that happened during the day, and just focus on having a good time. Dancing definitely brightens up an otherwise dreary day, especially once we hit the cold, depressing months on campus. We have a really laid-back atmosphere, everyone dances with everyone and there’s no real competition or pressure to be a star. Joining the club is also a great way to make friends, a great way to find a boyfriend or girlfriend if that’s the kind of thing you’re looking for, and on top of it all you get to learn all these dance moves that you can whip out at a wedding or any sort of formal event in the future.
What are the club’s goals for the semester?
Our goals? We would like to get as many people to join as possible, since a lot of our dedicated members are studying abroad and we want to keep up the fun, energetic atmosphere. As laid back as we are, it is still our hope that a select few will choose to come back and dance with us week after week, because consistently coming back really is the best way to improve as a dancer. If our members are dedicated to coming to swing, we will be able to begin holding intermediate/advanced swing lessons in addition to the beginning ones. As usual, we plan on hosting an end of the semester dancing event as well. We’ll be going to the Halloween salsa party at the American Legion, which includes a costume competition in addition to a night of Latin dancing, and we also plan on hiring a live band again and hosting our own party on campus to celebrate a fantastic semester.