The Washburn Swing Dancing Club held a bi-weekly meeting Thursday, Feb. 13, inside Petro Allied Health Center’s dance studio where participants learned and practiced their country-style dancing, which includes two-step, line and swing dancing.
Jadyn Falley, president of the WSDC, shared about the meeting and her experiences with dance and emphasized the importance of dance which fosters connection.
“It is just our regular meeting, about getting exercise and being able to go out,” Falley said. “I have been dancing for the year, but ever since then, uninitiated, we’ve had the club but this year in the fall we made it official … we got a good turnout, which was impressive. I’ve met some of my closest friends in swing dancing that I don’t think I would have met before. It connects by trying to learn from other people, and a big thing with swing dancing is you have to follow, especially as a female, and get to learn with your partner and that makes it fun.”
Wyatt Carlson, vice president of WSDC, discussed a club meeting where they taught various dance styles.
“We taught a little bit of line dancing, swing dancing, mostly country-style dancing,” Carlson said. “It’s just kind of a style of dance that comes from the old west type era, playing country music. It’s partner dancing for swing dancing. Line dancing, just by yourself and moving in predetermined steps to the music. It’s a good time, you can always listen to music, meet new people and learn skills that last for a lifetime.”
Swing dancing is a group of dances that developed with the swing style of jazz music in the 1920s through 1940s.
Erika Borgeson, junior anthropology major, attended a meeting and shared her experience.
“I saw the Swing Dancing Club a while ago, but I was afraid to go by myself,” Borgeson said. “When my friend told me she was going, I was able to come with her. I learned a few swing dance moves and line dances. Among these, probably my favorite was the bucket line dance, it was more fun to me.”
Breah Yourdon, sophomore communication major, expressed her passion for dancing and her participation.
“I love dancing, it is really fun,” Yourdon said. “I did a lot of classically trained dance and I wanted to continue dancing, but I didn’t really want to audition for the dance team.”
Elsie Smith, sophomore biochemistry major, attended the meeting and shared her learning experiences in the WSDC.
“I’ve been doing it since they started in Nov. 2024,” Smith said. “It’s a kind of dance where two partners will get together and the male will lead the female and they can do pretty cool moves. It helps to connect with others, I met some really good people here and could talk to them.”
The WSDC meets every other week on Thursdays at 7:30 p.m.and participants can learn and practice their country-style dancing.
For updates and more information, follow the Washburn University Swing Dancers on Instagram.
Edited by Morgan Albrecht and Jeremy Ford.
