Step to impress

One of the easiest ways to discover different types of dance is through ballroom dancing. Though students might think of stiff-necked WASPs in black ties and cocktail dresses when they imagine ballroom dancing, that perception is far from true.
Ballroom dancing provides a lot of diversity in terms of the styles learned, said junior Steven Torres. Torres started dancing the summer before his freshman year at IU. He’s now a junior and the captain of the group’s Dancesport competitive dance team.
“I find Bloomington to be a very multicultural town,” Torres said. “Ballroom seems to fit right in with people trying to figure out what cultures they want to study.”

Dancers learn a variety of moves and styles, he said, including “smooth” styles such as the fox-trot, the waltz and the tango; and Latin dances, such as the cha-cha and rumba. Styles like West Coast swing and salsa are featured at the group’s social dances.

Torres said the club has a very social atmosphere – the dancing is never formal, and people are encouraged to dance with many partners – and that his closest friend was made through ballroom dancing.

“A lot of people, when they join the club, don’t expect too much,” Torres said. “But then it ends up taking up a lot of their time because they like it so much.”

Another style of dance that adapts easily to social dancing situations is swing dancing. The IU Swing  Dance Club focuses on East Coast Swing and the Lindy Hop, but members are also given an overview of other dances such as the Charleston and the “Shim Sham,” which is a kind of shuffling tap dance.

Melanie May, the webmaster of the IU Swing Dance Club's Web site, said swing is a very laid-back type of dance. Within the basic parameters of the steps, most of the dancing is very lose and oftentimes improvisational.

“Once you learn to do the basic steps, you can do it to any music that has a six- or eight-count beat,” she said.

May said she was excited for the call-out meeting that will happen at the end of the month.

“This is our chance to showcase swing and get people hyped up and curious about joining,” she said, encouraging anyone who is remotely interested in swing to be there.
If you’d like to delve deeper into cultural forms of dance, Ritmos Latinos, a salsa-dancing club started by IU graduate student Josh Carney, might be worth trying.
The club focuses on “Rueda de Casino,” which is a type of salsa that originated in Cuba. Dancers circle up, and a caller leads participants in the steps. As participants move around the circle, they are constantly switching partners.

“The music is the same, but the dance encourages participation from everyone,” he said, adding that people usually take what they’ve learned at Ritmos Latinos and translate it into partner dancing once they become more comfortable with the steps.
Carney says this style of salsa is especially perfect for anyone who’s never danced before, since no partner is needed.

“We’re pretty open and welcoming. That’s not an easy thing to say with dance.”
Ritmos Latinos used to meet in Alumni Hall every Wednesday, but the group is currently between homes.

For those who want their dance to be completely improvisational and formless, break dancing offers something much different than IU’s other dance clubs, said Chuck Li, a senior involved in the club. Li is also a member of an intra-club “crew” called Beat Sick Misfits, who travel to other cities and states to perform.

He added that unlike with most other styles of dance, there’s really no specific way to learn how to break.

“Everyone can help teach, even the new guy that showed up last week can teach people who are brand new,” he said. “But it’s up to the individual to make it up on their own.”

Li said that IU’s break dancing club also brings more elements of Bloomington’s hip-hop culture together than most other campus dance groups, collaborating with organizations like IU’s Hip Hop Congress and hip-hop fraternity Eta Iota Rho.

“Any kind of emotion I have, I can express it on the floor when I dance,” Li said