CECI HEINEN: Hi guys. This is Ceci Heinen from the Minnesota Daily. Today I went to UMN Ballroom Dance Club. I know a lot of you may have seen them. They do a lot of advertising around campus and I thought it’d be fun to go show you what a lesson typically looks like. I did a beginner tango lesson. It was super fun. I was way outta my league. Take a look at my experience at UMN Ballroom Dance. 

HEINEN: Have you ever whipped out a dance at a wedding? 

TESS LUNHEIM: Oh yeah, for sure. Definitely. Yes. I definitely forced my family too with me as well. 

HEINEN: “Come waltz.” That’s funny. 

LUNHEIM: So I guess like starting off in the first place, it was just kind of something fun and different. Like I’m with engineering, it’s a lot of like math and technical stuff, so this was just a really fun creative outlet. 

And then just what made me say is just like the wonderful community and just, it’s such a cool skill to learn as well because it’s like, it’s something, it’s kind of like a lost art of the past and it’s really cool that it’s so much fun. You can have a lot of fun with it. 

OWEN SCHEDIN: At the beginning of the semester I saw some sidewalk art in chalk and it said, “Come try out for ballroom.” So of course I came.

ANDREW NI: It was actually a parent thing. They were like “go try ballroom, find, you know, something to get involved with.” And I came here, I really liked it and I just kind of stayed and joined the competition.

LUNHEIM: The competitions start off as sort of elimination rounds where you start, like everybody dances and then they get like marks to move on. It ends with like a final of six people and then those get ranked like one through six.

AQUARINE HOANCA: Honestly, I feel like every competition is just like such a good memory for me. And like in particular, we always take a bus to competitions and just like the bus heading back from a competition, everyone’s like so exhausted, but you’re like buzzing on adrenaline and it’s just so much fun and we just like go a little crazy together.

But it’s a good time. It’s like, it’s really hectic. Like there’s a lot of people cheering. There’s a lot of like different stuff going on. Everyone’s going on and off the floor all the time. I think it’s so exciting to be able to like watch everyone perform and like just cheer for them. Like I think the Minnesota team, like we’re really known for being like super loud and excited at competitions. So it’s really fun to be a part of that.

PERRYN NORTHROP: So my favorite dress is, it’s a rhythm Latin dress and it’s leopard print all the way to here, and then it’s bright orange tool at the bottom. 

HEINEN: When you’re out in a big competition, like on the floor with a bunch of other people, how do you not run into each other? 

NORTHROP: I trust my lead. Yeah, he looks behind and we just kind of like stop. And then I’m looking past him. So if someone, if he’s going backwards and he’s about to bump into someone, we kind of just like. Kind of pull each other and are like, wait a second, and then we go again. 

HEINEN: But it doesn’t like dock you anything if you were to?

NORTHROP: No, no. Sometimes it actually helps you because it like shows the judges that like, you know what you’re doing and you know how to reset.

HEINEN: Have you found a lot of your friends through ballroom? 

LUCAS MILLER: Yeah, I actually, outside of ballroom, I probably don’t hang out with anyone anymore. So like, I’d say majority of my friends are involved or not. It pushes you to work very hard, but in a fun atmosphere. It sets very clear goals and you can kind of choose how competitive you want to be.

BRODY SCHAFFNER: I used to hate tango all the time, but I’ve been doing a lot more of it lately and I think it might’ve became my favorite dance, trying new things, working on it with one of my partners a lot more. And I’ve, now that I’m getting it a bit more, I love it a lot.

AVA WEBB: I am a sucker for a Viennese waltz. That will always hold a special place in my heart. That was like my first dance I ever learned and competed. I have like no dance background whatsoever. 

So I think being thrown into something so different that I have never done was kind of new and it was low pressure and everyone was super like accepting and nice and it was something I could go to and like not have to think about any homework or stress from school.