How I got into ballroom dance

Brown University Ballroom Dance Competition, October 28, 2018

Growing up as a nerdy, book-loving, video game enthusiast, the last thing I thought I'd be doing was competitive ballroom dancing, and yet here we are!

When I entered college, I wanted to try something new, something I'd never tried before. I saw an advertisement for a ballroom dancing show during my freshman orientation and I thought "Well I like Dean Martin and Frank Sinatra, maybe I'll get to hear some of their music and watch some dancing!"

So I went to my school's campus center where the show was taking place and somewhat nervously sat down, not sure what to expect from this show. The Ballroom Team introduced themselves and the dancing commenced soon after. I was immediately hooked. I don't know what it was, but the costumes, the music, the steps, the pure fun that the performers were having, all made me want to get right up there with them! I stayed for the complementary swing lesson after the show and I knew this was how I'd want to spend my time outside of the classroom.

Soon after the orientation show, I started attending the biweekly lessons offered by the team, taught by local professional ballroom dance instructors. These lessons were a struggle! When I say that I had danced only one time previously in my life (at an uncle's wedding), I am not exaggerating. I was absolutely terrible when I first joined and had zero experience with both dance and music. However, I was determined to try and stick with something new and step out of my comfort zone when I got to college. Ballroom dancing fulfilled that goal.

In the first few weeks of lessons, we learned the swing, the cha-cha (also called the cha-cha-cha, but that's too many cha's in my opinion), and the waltz. I felt like I had a decent grasp on the swing since it was taught at the orientation show, but the cha-cha and the waltz flew right over my head. The cha-cha was too fast and the waltz had some complicated rising and falling actions that were too much to handle when I barely even knew where to place my feet. I couldn't count the music, so all sense of dancing on time was absent. Somehow, I was supposed to be ready to dance at my first competition at the beginning of November (I joined in September); I had no clue how this was going to happen.

For some reason, though, I wasn't discouraged. Maybe it was because I was doing this with some friends that I met during orientation, maybe because it was something novel and I was set on achieving that goal of doing something new, or maybe I was just stubborn, but I kept going to lessons and practiced the steps in my dorm room, much to the confusion of my roommate.

I was soon paired with two partners, one for the Latin dances and one for the ballroom dances and the day of our first competition was fast approaching. We practiced our routines in the few days before the competition and felt like we had a good grasp of what we were supposed to do.

Competition day was a long one; I'm talking 4:00 am to 10:00 pm. The competition was hosted by our college's team, so not only did we have to dance in it, we had to organize it and make sure it ran smoothly. It was a stressful day, but my partners and I managed to survive and not mess up our steps or timing too much.

That first competition is a big milestone for new members of the team since it makes clear to us if we want to continue dancing or if this activity isn't for us. Well, at the end of the day, the message was loud and clear for me: I wanted to continue! I remained on the team for the rest of my time in college and continue to this day competing in competitions all across the East Coast.