Naz has a wide variety of clubs on campus. Whether they are professional, academic, or for a common interest, all of them are super fun and often collaborate together! As an aspiring college student, visiting many schools, I was intrigued by the unique clubs each campus had. Nazareth continues to grow with its students, continuously creating new and exciting clubs. Just recently, new clubs such as Adventure club, American Choral Directors Association (ACDA), and Capoeira Club have arisen.
Teresa Colosanti is currently a junior music therapy major. She is a residential assistant, secretary of AMTAS (music therapy club), and the co-choir director for the Nazareth Catholic community. On top of all of this, she is also the president of Ballroom Dancing club. For her health and wellness element of the core curriculum, Teresa took a latin dance class, which made her want to learn more about dancing. This led her to join Ballroom Dancing club. She became the club secretary in her sophomore year before running for president this year.
What is ballroom dancing club? What do you do?
Ballroom club is a club that students can come to to learn ballroom dances and different latin dances. A few examples are salsa, merengue, waltz and swing. We have two instructors come in every week who teach the dances to the club.
Who comes to ballroom dancing club? And who is allowed to join?
Everyone is allowed to come! We welcome all students who want to learn different dances and we try to learn a new dance each week. We often have new students come every week. Sometimes it depends on what dance we are doing or if they have time in their schedule.
Are their opportunities for leadership roles?
This club has a President, a Secretary (Alexi Przybylski) and a Treasurer (Megan Cooper). Both our secretary and treasurer are first year students, so there are plenty of leadership opportunities available for students of any year. Ballroom dancing club was only started last semester (Spring 2017) and, because we are so new, we haven’t been able to get involved in many activities outside of our normal club meetings. We are still getting off the ground and are also still figuring out what each position does and what some other possible leadership roles for other members could be.
Do you host any events? If so, which ones?
Since this club just started last semester, we haven’t hosted anything yet. We do, however, have the RIT [Rochester Institute of Technology] Ballroom Club come here for dances and they invite us to their meetings and dances as well. We are hoping to host a dance in the spring where Naz students can come and learn some basics and dance all night!
How often do you meet? And where?
For this semester, we meet every Thursday at 7:00pm. Most of the time we are in the International Room [in the Shults Center] but we occasionally change rooms so it is best to check the weekly calendars that the Campus Activity Board sends out and be on the lookout for emails!
Do you need dance experience to attend?
Not at all! We have people come with all different levels of dance experience. Most people have no experience to limited experience and this is a great place to get involved in a non-judgemental environment!
What if you don’t have a dancing partner?
You don’t need to come with anyone to be a part of this club. Often times, because there are so many girls on our campus, we take turns learning the following and leading parts. This is helpful because it gives you a broader look at the dance and then you can even teach it to a friend!
What do you like about it?
I like that I have the chance to learn all different dances! I have always loved dancing and I always wanted to learn the dances that are well known, such as west and east coast swing or salsa. This provides a great chance for anyone to learn them, while making friends at the same time!
For a full list of the clubs offered by the Undergraduate Association at Naz, look here.