Princeton Ballroom Club leads the way

You probably saw them at the Activities Fair: dancers dressed in colorful, backless dresses or tuxedos, urging freshman to add their netIDs to their sign-up sheet.

That apparently worked, because the Princeton Ballroom Club has nearly quadrupled in size since the beginning of the school year.

The Ballroom Club is a sport club that not only has practice every day, but also hosts a dance competition on campus and travels across the country to attend others. The club started the year with about 15 members. Now, they have over 50.

“I put a lot of effort into trying to make sure people know we existed, and I think it’s turned out really well,” publicity chair Michael Li ’16 said.

Practices generally begin with a one-hour technical session for the veterans, followed by a more general session for beginners. On Mondays they practice Standard dances, which include the waltz, tango, quickstep, fox-trot and Viennese waltz. On Tuesdays the group focuses on the five Latin styles danced in competitions, which include the cha cha, jive, samba, paso doble and rumba.

“This is a great year for us. We’re trying to establish relationships with the new members that will make them feel welcome,”Ballroom vice president Shannon Julian ’16 said.“I hope the new members will all really discover that ballroom dancing is something special.”

Most of the veterans are pleased with the increase in participation,sayingthe new members keep the club going and growing.Julian says the club has implemented a number of new measures designed to retain new members, such as hosting a dance camp at the beginning of the academic year and having hosting more social events.

In the past, members were attracted by the colorful outfits — but stayed for their friends.

“I saw someone in a nice dress, and she signed me up, and I joined. One practice turned into another, and I became a member of Ballroom,” Steven Tsai ’17 explained of how he initially became involved in the club. Tsai currently serves as Rookie Team Captain, a role which enables him to help the new members acclimate to Ballroom.

Newcomer Peter Chen ’17 said he is pleased with his experience in the club thus far, citing the friends he has made through the club, the overall atmosphere of the events and the prospect of learning a new dance as the three reasons he remained a member.

“I like how patient they are; they’re very patient. With so many beginners and so many veterans, I imagine it must be hard to teach,” Chen said.

“Because we’re mostly an undergrad team we don’t have a lot of people who have done ballroom for more than two or three years,”Megan Dare '16said. At competitions, however, many of the student dancers participating from other schools are near the professional level, which Dare cited as inspirational.“It’s a good exchange of dancing knowledge and dancing style,” Dare said.

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Despite the relative inexperience of the team’s membership, thePrinceton Ballroom Club generally fares well in competition, which Tsai explained is due to the “information integration” of the team — older members passing their knowledge on to new members.

The club also hosts its own dance competition every year, with over 200 competitors from 15 different schools. The competition serves as its main source of revenue. This year’s will take place onOct. 18 in Dillon Gymnasium.

At competitions, each couple has the opportunity to dance in each of the 10 categories, Dare explained. If a pair receives a callback in a particular style — which Dare added most do — they can dance in that style again. There are several experience levels from which pairs can choose to enter during competition, including newcomer, bronze, silver, gold and champ. Many of the veterans this year said their goal is to compete at a higher level than they did previously.

“Once you start placing at silver, then you know you can take gold [level],” Julian said. She and her partner Francois Charpentier ’15 have competed together for over a year and placed at the silver level several times.

“[Ballroom dancing] is a great combination of a bunch of different things,” Li noted. “It’s creative; it’s good exercise; it’s teamwork and personal growth, so a lot all in one.”