Ballroom Dance Team Sees Consistent Attendance

MARISA BERNER ’21
CONTRIBUTING WRITER
 
Every Wednesday at 9:00 pm in the Washington Room in Mather, the ballroom dancing club meets.  They learn and rehearse many different variations of ballroom dancing, and practice the steps to both the tango and the salsa.  The club was initially founded around five years ago due to the fact that one of Trinity’s students had been taking lessons from Sara Schilling, the co-owner of EdanSe and a professional competitor, and wanted to continue doing so while also introducing it to Trinity.  Since being founded, the club has grown considerably and competes multiple times a year.  The club’s president, Maggie Cassidy, a sophomore, has been a member since her freshman year and has been doing ballroom dance since kindergarten, initially joined because she wanted to continue that activity.  Since joining, she’s developed an appreciation for the camaraderie that the members of the club have with each other, believing that since the members of the club attend frequently, it becomes a lot easier to get to know the other members better and have a lot of fun together.  Once a year, they host a High Tea with the I-House, welcoming everyone on campus to come together and learn more about ballroom dancing and what it’s actually like, as well as giving the members an opportunity to showcase their skills to their fellow students.  When competing professionally, the competitors choose beforehand which dances they want to do, particularly which style they’re going to perform, American or International.  American style consists of either the smooth or rhythm categories — for example, the Waltz or the Salsa, respectively.  International style is either Standard or Latin, and is the more common of the two.  Recently, they have decided to start a “team wardrobe”, with the goal of amassing a collection of costumes that everyone on the team can use to compete.  They’ve decided to start with the most integral part of the ensemble, the shoes, and have around nine pairs total so far.  But for Cassidy, competing is near the bottom of her list as to why she’s such an enthusiastic member of the club.  She appreciates how the club is helping her to be more confident and social, since it helps to meet a lot of new people who are all beginners as well, giving her the chance to learn together.  For her, the best dance is the Waltz, and she enjoys just how peaceful and elegant it is, as well as how much it can make her feel like Cinderella.  But she also enjoys the Jive, viewing it as the most challenging dance due to how difficult and intense it can get.  Even though the common stereotype for ballroom dancing is that it can be boring and just a little bit weird, but Cassidy believes that it’s actually a fun, unique way to release tension and stress, as the main focus for the club is that its members have a good time rather than all of their steps being perfect.  In the next few years, the club would love to compete more, and develop their skills so that they can win more of the events, while still having the primary focus as having a good time dancing and relieving any stress that they may have amassed through other parts of their lives.  If interested, contact Margaret Cassidy at margaret.cassidy@trincoll.edu.