With over 100 student organizations on campus, there are plenty of special interest clubs that give students the opportunity to learn something new. One student organization at Southeastern has an environment where students can learn ballroom dancing in an informal setting.
The Southeastern Ballroom Dancing Club is a special interest organization that offers dance lessons to Southeastern students and the Hammond community. Junior accounting major Patrick Yingst, who has six years of dancing experience, founded the club in the spring of 2010.
Currently, the club meets Mondays from 7-8 p.m. in Room 225 of the Pennington Student Activity Center. No dues are required to participate.
With various types of dances that are considered ballroom dance, each meeting gives participants a chance to learn a new style.
In one particular meeting, the group was small due to it being the Monday after Mardi Gras break. However, it seemed to work perfectly as the group included Yingst, three males and two females.
After Yingst put on a pair of dancing shoes, he announced that for the evening, the group would be doing the rumba, which is a type of dance that originated in Cuba.
With the participants watching, Yingst demonstrated the movements. To help participants learn the movements, the instructions included phrases such as “one, two, three, four” and “quick, quick, slow.” After the demonstration, the participants paired off and practiced the movements. While watching, Yingst offered advice to them.
Yingst explained that he would do his best to teach ballroom dancing in a non-traditional way.
“I tell them what I know and I help them out,” said Yingst. “I walk around, see how they are doing, and if they have any questions, I help them out. It’s very informal, and I don’t want to teach formally because I crack jokes a lot.”
Throughout the hour-long meeting, Yingst engaged the participants and told anecdotes related to his own dancing experiences, which often made the participants laugh.
Catherine Chrisophe, a junior music major with prior ballroom dance experience, commented on Yingst’s instruction.
“One thing that I like about Patrick is that he seems to know a lot of steps in addition to the basic ones,” said Chrisophe. “He also makes sure that we’re comfortable with the steps we just learned.”
Even for those without previous ballroom dance experience, the lessons are taught at an easy pace.
“Patrick has been a great teacher so far in my opinion,” said English junior Kristyn Rodrigue. “He works with the group as well as individually. He doesn’t get frustrated with slow learners and will work with them for an entire meeting if need be.”
Even for students who are intimidated by dancing with people they don’t know, Yingst discussed others benefits in attending the meetings.
“It’s an activity that involves a partner, so you get to meet people,” said Yingst. “For people who are shy, it puts you out of your comfort zone.”