Digital Analogue

The epicentre of midwestern college ballroom

Just got back from the Cyclone Ballroom Classic. Iowa State is, I think clearly, the epicentre of college ballroom dancing in the Midwest. There are other schools that have some ballroom presence, but not many; and the ones that do tend to have small programs, or don't focus on competition. Not only does ISU have a good-sized team, it operates a good-sized and growing competition, under the loving guidance of Ed Simon, an awesome New York dance pro.

It's too bad that this weekend was the last before the end of the term, because that meant a lot of Knox kids didn't go to the comp who otherwise would have. However, I did get one couple to go, and Andrew and Rachel did fantastic: they competed eight events, did respectably in all of them, and placed first in Newcomer American Tango and Newcomer International Rumba. Woo! And they did great in the categories I deem even more important: having fun with their dancing and being able to dance with lots of different people.

Now my thoughts turn to program-building. I need to poke the students working on making us an official club, as this will provide a source of money for travelling and competing. I need to psych up the students about competing, so that they'll be up for competition next year. And I need to advertise the success so I can bring in new people for the spring term. :)

"We believe that labels are important, but mostly for bottles of wine." --Christo and Jeanne-Claude