“Students have found themselves waltzing, rumbaing and salsaing their way to Columbus. The University of Akron’s ballroom dancing club will be competing in their fist competition this year. It’s the premier ballroom dance competitions in the nation, dancer Jaclyn Gishbaugher said.”
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Students have found themselves waltzing, rumbaing and salsaing their way to Columbus.

The University of Akron’s ballroom dancing club will be competing in their fist competition this year.

It’s the premier ballroom dance competitions in the nation, dancer Jaclyn Gishbaugher said.

Gishbaugher said that the club competed in the first competition last year and while it was very informal there was a chance to get a feel for the scene.

Since receiving funds from the extra curricular activities fund, the club has brought on a professional coach to help them prepare for the competitions.

She said that they will be up against teams that have had established clubs for several years and they get a chance to watch world professionals.

We will be competing in what’s called American style, she said. We will be doing the smooth dances like the waltz, tango and foxtrot and the rhythm dances like the swing, cha-cha and rumba.

Gishbaugher, who began swing dancing in Youngstown, said that they have 21 students going to the competition on Nov.21-23.

However, not all of those student are from UA. Sean Mcphill, a Kent State student, dances at the classes offered during the week. He said he heard about it from an Akron student originally and brought along a friend from Kent.

Mcphill said that he along with his partner were going to be teaching a ballroom class at Kent this coming spring as they currently do not offer any classes.

He pointed to the social aspect of ballroom dancing, saying it was in fact a great way to meet girls.

It’s a great way to get around the awkward silences, he said.

Currently the club offers four nights of dance classes beginning on Wednesday during which students can salsa, Thursday is swing and Friday is ballroom. All classes begin at 8 p.m. and go till 10 p.m in Memorial Hall’s little gym.

For those that have never waltzed or salsa danced their way across a ballroom floor there is no need to worry because there is an instructor.

Micah Flores, the instructor for the salsa class, often stopped music to go over moves or review steps learned from weeks before.

While the 20 some people danced, the atmosphere remained light and fun often times people stopping and laughing before starting to dance again.

Flores asked people to switch partners.

Girls don’t forget to switch, we like to share the girls, he said speaking of the dominant male to female ratio that night.

Lets make friends, he said before starting the latin music up again.

He said that right around the time of big tests or finals attendance drops off but the first class back of the new semesters is greeted with high numbers. According to Flores they have seen as many as 50 people show up to one class.

The ballroom club offers memberships for students at $5 for an entire semester of classes and community members, faculty and staff are $10.

Whether students are looking for a new experience or a chance to socialize with other students, the ballroom club is always looking for people who are interested to learn.

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