Dozens of dancers of all shapes and sizes, majors and ethnicities meet on Wednesday afternoons in the Carmichael Dance Studio and attempt to learn such complex routines as the “Samba” and the “Merengue.”
The girls roll up their jeans and don high heels while the men twirl them around under the watchful eye of instructor Angelo Cristobal, a graduate student in aerospace engineering, who stands in the middle of the fray and belts out tips on his headset.
Aksel Davis, a sophomore in electrical and computer engineering, is the president of the club.
She said Dancing with Wolves, N.C. State’s ballroom dancing club, requires no previous knowledge of dance, and she has been only dancing for about a year.
“All they have to do is show up and want to learn,” Davis said.
Kimberly Spence, freshman in biological sciences, said the beauty of ballroom dancing is that anyone can pick it up.
“I came to State one weekend and I actually saw some people salsa dancing. I had always been really interested in dancing but I had never really gotten involved,” Spence said. So I asked them about it, and as soon as I started at State I got involved. It’s been wonderful!”
Madison Driver, a senior in business finance, said he had other reasons for joining the club.
“My girlfriend is a ballroom dancer. I wasn’t originally going to do it, but I did it to be a good boyfriend and make her happy,” Driver said. “As a guy, when you think about ballroom dancing, you sort of cringe at the thought at first, but I think you realize that every other guy is actually doing it for the exact same reason you are: your girlfriend got you into it, or you want to meet girls.”
Alicia Allen, a junior in textile engineering and polymer and color chemistry, said she finds it very attractive when a man can do the Mamba.
“It definitely adds to the persona of a guy,” Allen said.
The team has 90 members that are currently registered, and about 30 of those travel around the country to compete in tournaments. The most recent of these events was the Gamecock Invitational, hosted by the University of South Carolina. Newcomers and veterans alike chose their partners and practiced until their shoes wore out.
“Oh, we practiced all right,” Spence said. “I’d say my partner and I practiced about three or four hours outside of our weekly rehearsals.”
Dancers are separated into different categories according to their skill level. Those who are just beginning compete at the newcomer level, while others are divided into bronze, silver and gold.
In only her second tournament, Spence participated at the newcomer and bronze levels in the American Waltz, Fox Trot, Tango, Cha Cha, Rambo, Mamba, Swing, International Waltz and Quick Step. She walked away with two first places, two seconds, three thirds and two fourths.
“Some of them I actually learned that day,” Spence said. “I actually had never danced the Mambo until that morning, which was crazy. But I had a really good partner, so he was able to lead. I contribute it all to my partners. They lead me, I just follow.”
