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Salsa lesson spices up residence hall life
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Residence hall occupants gathered Wednesday to learn the salsa. From left are Bruce Hagley, Charleston senior; Meagan Haslebacher, Charleston junior; instructor Jordi Vilet, Mexico senior; Kellie McGraw, Huntington freshman; and Amanda Miller, Danville junior. |
by WHITNEY DANIEL
reporter
There was some hip-shaking and salsa music: going on Wednesday night, but it wasn't the set for a Ricky Martin video, it was the Buskirk Hall Lounge.
"It's all in the hips," Ana Maria Acosta, a salsa dance instructor from Colombia, said. Residents from Buskirk and Hodges teamed up for salsa dancing lessons Wednesday night in the Buskirk Hall lounge. The joint program "Livin' la Vida Loca" gave students the opportunity to experience a night of dancing.
Acosto and Jordi Vilet opened the program by reminding participants the most important thing about dancing is having fun.
"You have to feel the music," Vilet, a senior international student from Mexico majoring in engineering, said. He also assured students salsa was "very easy to learn."
Residents learned a few of the basic steps.
"You must begin with the waist and move down to the feet," Acosta said.
The instructors encouraged their pupils to grab a partner for practice.
"We enjoy the salsa," Katie Maxwell and Carrie Williamson, both sophomores from Sistersville majoring in biology, said. "We went to the Latin dancing Friday night sponsored by student activities. It was fun and we thought this would be, too."
Acosta said her favorite part of salsa dancing is doing turns.
"I like when the entire body moves with the music," she said.
Next, students formed a circle and took turns in the middle showing off their dance steps.
"The best way to learn to dance is by watching and doing," Vilet said.
The group broke into continuous laughter as students twirled around the room.
"You have to laugh at yourself," Johnee Crowder, a junior elementary education major from Walton, said.
"Just getting out there and making a fool of yourself and not knowing what you're doing is what makes it fun."
Anja Bruggemann, a Buskirk Hall resident director said, "We wanted to have a salsa dancing night because we thought it would be fun and full of physical and cultural content. No one wants to sit and listen to a lecture after being in class all day."
Acosta said she enjoys teaching a little culture with the dance lessons.
"The U.S.A. is an open country with people from so many different backgrounds. Anything you can learn about other cultures can make a difference."
Students finished up the evening with the "Macarena" and a round of limbo.