Dancers reveal their skills at UI Ballroom Dance Team Spring Showcase
According to University of Idaho student and Ballroom Dance Team member Logan Halverson, the team’s spring showcase over the weekend was one of the most fun experiences he’s had at college.
“It was so gratifying, because we put in all that work and effort through the weeks and all the hours of practicing,” Halverson said. “It was so much fun to actually perform it.”
The UI Ballroom Dance Team Spring Showcase took place Sunday afternoon in the International Ballroom of the Bruce Pitman Center, formerly the Student Union Building. The event featured dancers in costume performing fluid, carefully choreographed dance pieces to a variety of music.
Nathan Romans | Argonaut
The University of Idaho Ballroom Dance Team perform during the Spring Showcase event Sunday in the Bruce Pitman Center International Ballroom.
The showcase is put on every semester by the UI Ballroom Dance team, a student organization through ASUI.
Alicia Hodnik, team treasurer, said the organization is proud of the performances it puts on because it benefits the university community.
“We’d like to spread health through dance,” Hodnik said.
The showcase was a series of dances put on by the dance team members. The dances were mostly solo pieces with a few small group pieces and whole team pieces. The solo pieces were each performed by two dancers, a man and a woman.
UI alumnae and former team members Charlotte Smith and Anna Heim introduced the dancers to the audience and talked a little about each performance between dances and during costume changes.
“I guess we’re just supposed to make it smooth, because otherwise you’d be staring at the stage,” Smith said.
The showcase dances were a variety of styles, including samba, waltz, tango, foxtrot and cha-cha. Each piece was carefully choreographed and set to music, and the dancers were dressed in particular attire appropriate to each piece.
The UI Ballroom Dance Team’s coaches did the choreography for the group pieces, while the dancers themselves mostly did the choreography for the show’s solo performances.
Nathan Romans | Argonaut
The University of Idaho Ballroom Dance Team perform during the Spring Showcase event Sunday in the Bruce Pitman Center International Ballroom.
According to showcase judge Paul Jamboretz, the dances and the dancers’ acting during a performance matched the tone of the songs.
“I wouldn’t say like we coach people on acting as far as telling them technique of how to act during it, but we will tell them ‘OK, so in this dance we’re kind of shooting for this mood,'” Jamboretz said.
The team has been practicing all semester to put on the showcase. The team put in two hours twice a week on the group pieces, in addition to even more practice time for solo pieces.
Dancer Susanna Markert said a large part of practice for solos comes with working with her partner.
The University of Idaho Ballroom Dance Team perform during the Spring Showcase event Sunday in the Bruce Pitman Center International Ballroom.
“It’s really important to spend a lot of time with that person … because everyone dances a little differently, and you want to connect as well as you can with your partner,” she said.
Dancer and alumnus Geoff Keller said while the event isn’t for meant for recruitment, he recommends students join the UI Ballroom Dance Team.
“It’s been a wonderful experience … It’s a great way to get into something here at the university,” Keller said. “I’d suggest it heavily to anybody … I mean, we have a lot of dancers that don’t have any really ballroom experience when they join, and they just learn it over the course of the semester or however long they’re here for.”
Corey Bowes can be reached at [email protected]