Columbia University Swing Dancing Club
CU Swing is Columbia's swing dance club. It offers weekly, 1 hour classes in Lerner 555 taught by a professional swing instructor.
Levels
The class is offered at two levels: beginner and intermediate. Advanced level is not being offered at this time. Anyone is free to show up for any class, but beginner is tailored towards students who have no prior swing experience. Generally speaking, the Intermediate level requires knowledge of the eight-count step.
Guy:Girl ratio
Most of the classes tend to have a slight excess of girls, with a guy girl ratio of about 4:5. To prevent anyone from being left without a partner, some girls will spend the class learning to dance as "leads".
PCification
To satisfy the PC needs of the Columbia community, the instructors make frequent, awkward attempts to play down the inherent sexism of a dance in which the "follow" partner (which guys never volunteer for) is expected to do whatever steps their "lead" partner (which girls rarely volunteer for) leads them into. You'll often hear phrases like "Ladies, you must rise to the occasion of being led." The instructor also encourages men to try acting as the follow and women act as the lead.
Club dues
As of Fall 2008, semesterly dues were $30 (an uncomfortable jump from the $10 dues of 2006).
External Links
- CU Swing website
- Kristen Schenk, coordinator
