Strictly Ballroom
They danced the cha-cha, the rumba, the samba and they lindy hopped.
The Utah State University Ballroom Company’s Ballroom Invitational was held Monday through Wednesday in the Taggart Student Center Ballroom.
A competition was held Monday for students to show their stuff in various dances and at various
levels.
Melanie Benson, a sophomore majoring in elementary education, and Justen Hansen, a freshman majoring in mechanical engineering, partnered up to win first place in Bronze level cha-cha, second place in Bronze level rumba and third place in the open lindy hop.
“This is the first competition I’ve ever gone to,” Hansen said.
Both dancers joined the ballroom team three months ago.
“I was totally surprised [we won],” Benson said.
Even though multiple couples compete at the same time in the events, Benson said she felt as if Hansen and her were the only dancers on the stage.
“We were in the zone during the final competition,” Hansen said.
In the open lindy hop competition, Tyler Goudie, a junior majoring in electrical engineering, and Kaia Coddington, a junior art history major, won first place among 12 couples on the crowded dance floor. The couple also took second place in the open West Coast swing competition. Coddington, who is a member of the ballroom company’s blue team, started ballroom dancing two years ago at Skyline High School in Salt Lake City.
“We were a swing team that did some other things,” Coddington said.
Goudie has been dancing for 16 months. He said he was invited by a former Swing Club member, April Bush, to join the USU Big Band Swing Club.
“She said, ‘You have good rhythm and you need to come,'” Goudie said. “I got hooked.”
The couple danced the rest of Wednesday night away at the Swing Club Christmas party and at Club Skyline.
Marcia Hamilton, a junior majoring in accounting and recreational therapy, and Shane Shurtliff, a sophomore majoring in mechanical engineering, won second place in the open lindy hop competition.
“I was a little surprised,” Shurtliff said. “We hadn’t practiced a ton.”
He said he would plan on competing in the future.
“Competition is the best,” he said.
Hamilton said she had a fun time competing.
“It was hep to the jive,” she said. “It’s a rush – you just go out and play.”
Hamilton said another competition that tests a dancer’s versatility is the Jack and Jill. Dancers line up in a sort of musical chairs fashion and as music is played, they pass each other. When the music stops, the dancers who are facing each other become partners. They then compete against other couples, who have also been randomly placed together.
“You just hope you get a good partner,” Hamilton said. “You give it everything you’ve got.”
Tuesday and Wednesday gave students and parents a chance to see the ballroom company’s white, blue and competition teams, the Midvale Belly Dancers, Sky View High School’s dance team and the USU Big Band Swing team perform.
Former ballroom company dancers, Nathan and Leah Meng have returned to USU to coach the company’s competition team.
Last year the couple coached the Sports Academy Ballroom team, which was comprised of high school students from Cache Valley. Nathan said the team received superior marks in competitions.
Ricky Fielding coaches the ballroom company’s blue team with Elizabeth Kovacs and invited the Mengs to USU to coach the competition team.
Nathan said this is the first time the ballroom company has had six directors.
Fielding said having two directors for each team creates a stronger sense of responsibility for each team by the directors.
“It takes a lot of commitment,” Nathan said. “The competition team practices six hours a week. We make them work really, really hard.”
Fielding said the competition team will be heading to Vancouver in February to the Snowball Classic.
“They [the competition team] went last year and took third place,” Nathan said.
After the Snowball Classic, the ballroom company’s next performance will be the Spring Show, which will take place the first weekend in April.
Leah said the dancers on the competition team are talented and work hard to hone their skills.
“Some of them are taking video tapes home of the choreography during Christmas Break,” she said.
Leah said the ballroom company will also be having tryouts for the three teams Monday in HPER, Room 102 to fill upcoming vacant spots on the teams.
Competitors Michael Hales and Laura Schulthies show off their moves in the gold/silver ballroom final. (MeDynn Porter )