Shall We Dance?
From bossa-nova and bolero to the tango and the two-step, ballroom dance continues to cha-cha its way from coast to coast.
At least in part, that trend is due to ballroom dance movies like “Strictly Ballrrom” (1992), “Shall We Dance?” (1992) and the soon-to-be-released movie starring Antonio Banderas, “Take the Lead,” as well as television’s own attempt to allemande, “Dancing with the Stars.”
“The media has had a tremendous hand in bringing ballroom into greater prominence,” said Utah State University Ballroom Dance Company president Phil Tuckett. “I believe it is becoming more and more popular, especially among college students.”
At Friday and Saturday, April 7-8, the USU Ballroom Dance Company will be presenting their spring show at Elite Hall (83 W Main in Hyrum). The show features dancers performing various styles of ballroom dance in full costume.
“Students who come to the spring show can expect a hot, awesome time,” company vice president Jennifer Tonioli said. “We have been working hard all year to learn routines that will entertain people of all ages.”
In addition to the performances of the USU Ballroom Dance Company, the show will also feature performances by Skyview’s dance team, the Star Steppers (a local dance studio) and some soloists from the Salt Lake City area.
“It will be an exciting show,” Tonioli said. “A lot of people have worked really hard to get this show together. It would be a shame to miss it.”
The dance team competes at various locations around Utah and California. Recently, the team placed fourth in team formations in a California competition held in San Diego.
“During the four years that I’ve been involved with USU’s dance team, we have competed against other schools in Utah, Idaho, San Jose, San Diego, Las Vegas and Vancouver BC,” Tuckett said. “We compete both as a team and as individual couples, and do fairly well at both. Last year, our team tied for second place in San Diego, and our individual couples have taken home ribbons in a wide variety of dance styles.”
In addition to dance competitions, the team performs several times each year at a number of community events.
“This year so far, we have performed in Preston at a Christmas fundraiser, we have performed at church events and we performed at Thanksgiving Point in February,” Tonioli said. “The highlight of performances was when we performed for the King of Tonga and the National Tongan Association at the Sheraton in Salt Lake City in February.”
The team consists of nine couples (18 members) and two coaches who practice three hours each day on Monday, Wednesday and Friday and sometimes all-day on Saturday for choreography sessions.
“Team members are encouraged to get together as partnerships outside of practice, and some have been known to put in an additional four to six hours per week in preparation for competition,” Tuckett said.
Team members joined the company for a variety of reasons, but most of them come back to a love of dance.
“I started dancing when I lived back home in Montana my senior year of high school,” team member Shelby Mergenthaler said. “When I came to USU I was eager to continue dancing, so I thought, ‘why not try ballroom?’ I ended up making the team and falling in love with it.”
“I dance because it is so much fun, gives me something to do (not to mention a great cardio workout) and I really just love doing it,” company vice president Alyssa Brande said. “In my opinion ballroom dance is much more strict than any other style of dance. That doesn’t mean you can’t have fun with it, it just means there is more structure to it, and more technique to acquire to really become good at it.”
Unlike hip hop, which is really free form, ballroom requires each step, hip movement and arm movement to be exact, especially in team formations, Mergenthaler said.
On Sept. 8, 1997, the International Olympic Committee granted the International DanceSport Federation status as a recognized federation and a member of the IOC. Though still not an Olympic event, ballroom dancing has been categorized as a sport because of the technical skills and physical prowess required to compete. USU Ballroom Dance Company members participate in an exercise regiment that includes running up to two miles and doing many pushups and situps before dance practice.
“We are a USU team just like the hockey team or any other club sport,” Mergenthaler said. “We work hard to represent USU. We would love to have some ‘fans’ come see what we’re all about at our spring show. We may not be on a court with a basketball, but we’ve still got moves.”
Students who are interested in joining the dance team should watch for the flyers that are put up at the beginning of each academic year. Auditions are usually held during the first or second week of the fall semester.
“There has been a ballroom dance team here at USU for the past 10 years,” Tuckett said. “I am optimistic about the future of ballroom dancing at USU. My hope is that the team will continue to grow and improve and that someday soon, Logan will be able to host it’s very first ‘Aggie Dancesport Festival.'”
Tickets to this year’s spring show cost $5. For more info on the show, tryouts or ballroom dancing in general, e-mail the dance company at ballroom@cc.usu.edu.
-mattgo@cc.usu.edu