On Friday nights at the Old Snack Bar, the sound of music can be heard as the Hillsdale Hepcats Swing Dancing Club meets for a swing dancing lesson, followed by open dance.
Lots of behind-the-scenes effort goes into planning each event, from selecting music to putting together a lesson for those interested in expanding their swing dancing repertoire. The club’s officers, including President senior Wes Wright and Vice President junior Haley O’Brien, are in charge of organizing each week’s meeting.
“We pick at least a lead and follow to teach those lessons and prepare beforehand,” Wright said. “Aside from that, there’s also reserving the room, and setting the speakers.”
As the club’s historian, O’Brien maintains the facebook page and posts pictures, and as president, Wright oversees officer meetings.
“Wes is in charge of basically running the club,” O’Brien said. “He makes sure whatever we need to talk about for that week, whether that’s the lesson planning or a theme night, T-shirt orders, he makes sure everything gets talked about and gets done.”
Wright first heard of swing club through word-of-mouth, decided to try it out.
“I had met some Hillsdale people prior to coming to the school, and they all raved about it, and I thought I would give it a shot.” Wright said. “It just happened to be something that I really enjoyed.”
According to Wright, swing club serves as a connection point for people who enjoy social dance.
“It’s a time to be with friends and people who enjoy the same things you do.” he said. “The dance in and of itself is a joyous thing, a celebration of motion and partnership.”
After first becoming an officer partway through his sophomore year, Wright had the idea to help increase the club’s knowledge of different types of swing dancing by going to lindy exchanges. At these gatherings, dancers from various organizations and cities meet to experience different styles of Lindy Hop, a specific style of swing dancing.
“Before we started doing that, the club was a lot more insular, and going out to those other scenes enable us to dance with other people and improve our dancing, and not just have that incestuous relationship with the club alone,” Wright said.
Lindy Hop, an eight-count dance, first developed out of Charleston in the 1930s. Its main feature is the “swing-out,” in which the lead dancer and his follow swing apart from each other while still holding hands.
Knowing different styles of swing dancing, such as Lindy Hop, allows club participants to dance to a wider variety of music. This year, reordering the lessons has allowed for wider participation for newer dancers.
“What we taught has changed, and the way we taught it,” Wright said. “In the years prior to my time at Hillsdale, there was a lot more East Coast swing dancing, and we’ve shifted to teaching Lindy right at the beginning of the year, and this year, teaching Charleston first semester as well. Which, I think, broadens the number of songs that
students can dance to.”
The officers have also modified their approach so as to maintain a balance between newer and more experienced dancers.
“We’ve worked out some things about the music that we would like to play, and the emphasis of our teaching, that I think have improved the club,” Wright said. “Newcomers aren’t there to get knee-deep in technique, they’re there to have fun and learn how to actually dance.”
The officers will continue to make decisions such as these in the coming years of the club. Each year, new officers are chosen for open positions based on the evaluations of the current club officers.
Freshman Mary Blendermann, recently chosen as an officer, noted the tremendous role Wright has played in the club’s leadership. While the potential presidents for next year have similar outlooks on swing dancing, the way lessons are taught and meetings are run could be subject to change.
“He seems to provide the sort of stylistic direction that the club takes, because every president can do that differently,” Blendermann said. “I think he has embodied so much of what swing dancing club is for the past year or two that once he’s gone, it’s going to be ‘Okay, what are we doing now?’”
Though Wright will be graduating, he has high hopes for next year’s officers.
“I’m excited to see what the rest of the officers will do in the future. I think the way we’re looking with who is going to run the club next year is going a good direction,” Wright said.