Cristina Foglietta
Most college students usually reserve dancing for the club scene, but this is not true in all cases. About a month ago, I discovered the Ballroom Dancing Club at LIU Post. It caught my interest, and I thought it would be nice to learn some appropriate dances for formal occasions. I attended a meeting few weeks ago and brought my boyfriend along for the ride.
The meeting was in Hillwood Commons, which I never knew had a dance floor. Before we walked in, the room was in favor of females about twenty to one. At least we slightly helped the score. The girl instructing the class, Alize France Margulis, a sophomore International Business major, was very excited to see new faces. She welcomed us with open arms. Marguilis explained that each meeting focuses on teaching a different type of dance and that salsa would be on today’s agenda. Salsa dancing always looked very appealing and graceful to me, so I was eager to learn.
Luckily, Margulis was just as thrilled to teach, as some of those moves can be tricky. If anyone was having trouble, she would come to the rescue immediately. She showed them personally, one on one, so there was no confusion. Mastering salsa requires a lot of fancy footwork and shaking your hips like Shakira. I think I got the hang of it, just not in full speed.
The class started off with beginner steps, slowly and without music, and then gradually progressed by moving to the rhythm at the speed of the original beat. At first, everyone started off alone, participating as a class to intro steps for the day’s theme. For salsa, we stepped twice to the front, twice to the back while moving our hips and arms. This can also be done left to right. These steps help advance you to more complicated moves, which are required when dancing to an actual song.
In the next part, everyone danced in pairs, learning how to use the steps we just learned while working with a partner. This step ended with a turn and a spin. That was my favorite part! I was thrilled to learn this sophisticated move on the dance floor. It felt exhilarating to be effortlessly turned and gracefully spun around. I will definitely be back again for more!
To my surprise, I think my boyfriend enjoyed the experience more than I did! This club can truly give one confidence on the dance floor! After one lesson, he now leads and turns me with complete grace and ease.
I enjoyed the club because it was a huge stress reliever and was simply a lot of fun. It changed my view on ballroom dancing. I used to think that ballroom dancing was very strict and serious, but the club was not like that at all. It was laid back, exciting, and free.
If you want to experience the club for yourself, come to a meeting. The Ballroom Dancing Club meets every Thursday on the third floor of Hillwood Commons from 12:30 p.m. to 1:30 p.m. Come shake up your lunch hour!
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