Email This StoryStudents learn ballroom moves
Nov. 17, 2000Clubs offer dance lessons
By EMILY MCWHORTER
Reporter
A 151-year-old restriction ended during Diadeloso of 1996 with the first dance ever on Baylor campus, 'A Miracle on Fifth Street,' and the campus has been alive with dancing ever since.
The latest dancing crazes to hit campus are ballroom dancing, Latin dancing and Mexican folk dancing.
The Ballroom Dance Society received its charter last year but almost dissolved when the seniors making up the majority of the organization graduated. However, a Baylor student saw the group on the student organization roster and decided to join and get other students involved as well.
Billy Effinger, the new president of the Ballroom Dance Society and a Brenham junior, got a few friends together and amended the constitution to better fit the needs of the group. The organization is now open to any Baylor student interested, and there is no fee to join, Effinger said.
The Ballroom Dance Society meets from 6:30 to 7:30 p.m. each Wednesday in Russell Gymnasium.
Dr. Roger Kirk and his wife, Jane Abbott-Kirk, both Baylor faculty members, teach the Ballroom Dance Society practices, and they also teach beginning ballroom dancing classes each semester as a continuing education course.
About 15 students are currently involved in the society, and none have had any experience with ballroom dancing before, Effinger said.
Kirk, professor of psychology and statistics, said he enjoys ballroom dancing 'because it is a wonderful social environment.'
Abbott-Kirk, associate professor of keyboard studies, said she dances for the 'artistic expression and aerobic benefits.'
The Ballroom Dance Society is learning the waltz, rumba, fox-trot, tango, cha-cha and the East Coast Swing this year.
As these students waltz along the dance floor to the step instructions, 'side-close forward, side-close back,' given by Kirk, an entirely different sound and rhythm can be heard in another area of the campus.
The Ballet Folklorico Ocelotl received its charter on Oct. 2 and meets from 6 to 8 p.m. every Friday in the Rena Marrs McLean Gymnasium.
Karla Garza, the director and choreographer of the organization and an Eagle Pass junior, said the group started with a few members who loved dancing and wanted to learn more about their culture.
'The purpose [of the organization] is to bring the richness, the mystery and the magic of the Mexican culture to Baylor University and the community and at the same time to share our culture through our traditional music and dances,' Garza said.
The group received its name in an interesting way. Most of the ballet folklorico groups have an Aztec name, and the group was looking for the word for bear but could not find it, Garza said. Ocelotl means jaguar in the Aztec language Nahuatl.
The group consists of eight guys and 14 girls, and none of them have had any experience with this kind of dancing except Garza, who has been dancing for six years.
Ballet Folklorico Ocelotl is basically Mexican folk dancing in the traditional costumes, Garza said. Each state in Mexico has a different type of dance and costume, and the club has learned the dances from the states of Aguascalientes, Nuevo Leon and Jalisco so far. In one famous dance, the Machetes, the men dance with big knifes while their eyes are covered with bandanas. The women dance with candles on their heads in another dance.
Ballet Folklorico Ocelotl is planning to participate in a folk dance contest next semester at Southwest Texas State University in San Marcos, Garza said.
Other students on campus are moving across the floor to the faster beat of Salsa Merengue dancing, a type of Latin dancing.
Luis Carmona, a Houston sophomore, and several other students are in the process of getting a Latin dance organization chartered.
'We hope to have our charter by the end of the semester,' Carmona said.
The group, hoping to be called the Latin Dance Society, had its first interest meeting on Monday and will begin learning dances on Nov. 20. About 30 students signed up to join the club, and Carmona said they expect many more.
'The organization is open to anybody, and no experience is necessary,' Carmona said.
The Latin dance club will be learning all types of Latin dancing, including Salsa Merengue, Flamenco and even Tex-Mex styles of dancing.
Future plans for the group include a dance-a-thon in collaboration with the Hispanic Student Association and also a dance to celebrate Cinco de Mayo in the spring, Carmona said.
Two Baylor students are working to join several of the different dancing clubs together to form a Baylor dance organization.
Currently Amanda Darwin, an Atlanta sophomore involved in swing dancing at Baylor, is working with Effinger to re-charter the constitution of the Ballroom Dance Society to adapt it toward creating a Baylor dance society.
'We are hoping to get it started up next semester,' Darwin said.
Swing dancing is a part of Bearobics this year and is meeting from 9 to 11 p.m. every Monday at the McLane Student Life Center. There are 10 to 20 students who regularly attend, but there have been as many as 60 students involved, Darwin said. However, next semester the group will not have an instructor or a place to meet.
Darwin said the group hopes to be set up similarly to the Ballroom Dance Society in the future. She also said they recently heard about the Latin dance club and may try to involve this group in the Baylor dance organization as well, if they are interested.
'[Whether students are dancing] because it is an important part of [their] culture [or because they think] it's classy,' it looks like the opportunities for dancing on the Baylor campus are steadily increasing.
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