Lessons, laughter for amateur dancers
By David Chang
Oct. 15, 2003 9:00 p.m.
Back right, forward left, side behind side behind, kick, step
turn, heel click, and spin. Confused? That was just the
warm-up.
For the students already fumbling and bumbling during this John
Travolta-style hustle warm-up, sessions of waltz, cha-cha, and
swing were right around the corner. On Monday nights, the Ballroom
Dance Club and the International Folk Dance Club offer dance
lessons on campus ranging from samba and the fox trot to tango and
the lindy.
“We will also have historical theme dances like the Jane
Austin Dance on Saturdays,” instructor and founder James
Zimmer said. “There are also field trips to nightclubs and
ballroom parties.”
Nearly 60 dancers showed up Monday, many to prep for the big
salsa party next Monday, which will feature renowned Cuban drummer
Francisco Aguabella. Yet some students had ulterior motives that
night.
“Samantha’s here to meet guys,” first-year
computer science and engineering student Nick de Ocampo said.
“Nick’s here to meet girls,” first-year
electrical engineering student Jyou Sood said.
Accusations ran wild among Sood, de Ocampo and their Hedrick 2
South floor mates Samantha Wong and Frances Chang. After all, on
fliers, the dance lessons are billed as “where great romances
begin.”
Once instructors Cynthia Harper and Zimmer, who founded the club
in 1995, ordered the students to find their partners, the real fun
was about to begin.
Few activities in this world make full-grown adults look like
clueless babies in the way dance lessons do. For two hours, men and
women appeared to have forgotten how to differentiate between left
and right. Some students had trouble staying on their feet, but
still enjoyed themselves.
During the English waltz session, dancing duos formed a giant
circle, slowly pacing around the room. Men in Hawaiian shirts and
cargo shorts concentrated on playing their roles as aristocratic
gentlemen, puffing out their chests and sticking their chins high
in the air.
Once the pace quickened, what had started as a smooth
merry-go-round transformed into a bunch of bumper cars colliding
with each other.
“One of the great pleasures of the world is to dance with
a man who can lead well,” administrative nurse and the dance
clubs’ Vice President Shearon Bogdanovic said
When Zimmer demonstrated a complex series of steps for the men,
a Keanu-like “whoa” could be heard in the crowd of men.
To the women, Harper calmly said: “Ladies, we know what
we’re doing.”
“I’m trying to learn how not to lead,”
third-year psychology student Lynette Carlson said. “I
haven’t really danced since eighth grade, where the boys
don’t know how to lead.”
Carlson, who attended a few lessons in the past, convinced her
friend Jennifer Low, a second-year linguistics student, to put on
her dancing shoes. Both agreed the lack of social barriers made the
lessons a refreshing experience.
The cha-cha session brought out more laughter as students had
trouble switching partners. Not only did the dance sequence puzzle
many, but students also forget to advance to their next partners. A
man lost in the twirling had to sprint to catch up to his next
partner. Again, the women seemed to show more progress.
“We were on a roll toward the end,” Sood said.
The same could not be said for her friend de Ocampo, who
publicly apologized to his fellow students after a side-splitting
performance where he knocked into every dancer within a five-foot
radius.
Fourth-year nursing student Rio Bencito fared better, refraining
from stepping on any toes.
“I started coming to the lessons last year, so I’m a
regular,” Bencito said. “But I’m not ready to go
to clubs and mop the floors.”
The Romantic Dance Lesson Series runs now to Dec. 1 Mondays
7 to 11 p.m. at Ackerman Union 2414.
