Ballroom dancing may evoke images of awkwardness at weddings or sparkly, old Hollywood classics, but it's more than polished dresses, flowery hair styles and sparkly shoes. Ballroom is a fusion of art and sport; combining athleticism, coordination, and practice with the artistic expression of emotion through music and costume.
Tangoing down the T on Saturday, the Tufts Ballroom Dance Team competed in the 14th Annual Harvard Invitational Competition in Dedham, Mass. with some success. Sophomores Aarthi Ananthanarayana, Davit Nguyen, and Masha Pindrus lead the team, which recently took first at an earlier competition at Boston University.
Sophomore Sheena Keller, who won first place in Gold rhythm at Harvard on Saturday, is aware of some misconceptions about the sport. "It's kind of a secret world," Keller said, "People who aren't in it don't really know much about it."
With such specific categories and styles for the dance, understanding the lingo - like "gold rhythm," for example - can be as difficult as dancing the steps. Ballroom dance is divided into four separate levels based on the dancers' experience. The competition heats up with each level: newcomers, open, bronze, silver, gold. "Rhythm" refers to the dance category, which in the case of Keller and her partner, Boston University student Sam Alter, consisted of cha-cha, rumba and swing.
Judges look for a certain showmanship from the ballroom dancers; they consider strictly technical aspects such as form and choreography as well as the presentational aspects, like costume. "There are a lot of rhinestones," Keller said, "When you're out there on the floor, you're out there to impress."
The Harvard Invitational held contests for four dance groups: American rhythm, American smooth, international Latin, and international standard. American rhythm includes dances such as swing, American rumba, American cha-cha, bolero and mambo. American smooth features dances like the foxtrot, waltz and tango. International Latin consists of international cha-cha, jive, samba, paso doble, among others, and international standard has dances such as the waltz, tango, foxtrot and quickstep.
While some find these dances to be old-fashioned, Keller and her companions beg to differ. "The rumba is the dance of love," Keller said, "the way that you're dancing is expressing some of those ideals. I think it's really sexy."
Freshman newcomer Megan Chang agrees. "Come see a Latin rhythm open dance, it'll shake up your view."
But due to the team's schedule, that can be difficult. This year, the team has only managed to perform for Tufts during orientation, in order to recruit new members. Since then the members have been too busy competing to give a second show at Tufts. The team requires a high level of commitment; practices are often and mandatory.
Practice is vital, because dancers learn new styles and steps at each lesson. There are organized lessons twice a week and individual practice is expected. The competitions themselves require sacrifice, too; while many are asleep on Saturday mornings, the team is often strapping on heels, perfecting their posture, and waltzing away their weekend.
This level of commitment has allowed the team to improve and take home ribbons. Freshmen Rob Cole and Jen Woodman placed first in both the American rumba and swing division in the bronze division. Gold level team Davit Nguyen and Leanne Andruszkiewicz placed third in Viennese waltz. Also among the winners were Tom Rodda and Lisa Cerrone, Peter Navarro and Meena Bolourchi, Davit Nguyen and Monica Kim, Rob Cole and Jen Nichols, Brad Morrison (independent) and Masha Pindrus.
-Stephanie Vallejo contributed to this article
