Swing into Spring Successful

by Sheila Vargas
edited by Ashlee Medeiros

The Swing into Spring event sponsored by the Residence Hall Association allowed students to be instructed in dances such as the tango and the mambo free of charge.

Michele Arata, who was instructing the class, said most studios charge $120 an hour for lessons. Arata also taught other dances besides the tango and the mambo such as the salsa, the meringue, and swing dancing.

(photo:www.britishblogs.co.uk/.../shameless-puffs/)

It was student Michael Brown’s idea to do this event. He previously tried to hold a Dance-a-Thon, an event similar to Swing into Spring, last year but it did not have a good turn out.

Brown decided to ask Jillian Schramn the Experience Director of granite for help. “I thought it was a wonderful program,” said Brown, “ten times better than the turn out I got last year when I did this by myself.”

Schramn said “I was excited about the turnout, it was a great weekend program that attracted a variety of people and gave an alternate decision for students on a Friday night.”

Schramn was able to have Arata instruct for free because they have been good friends since high school.

Arata is an amateur ballroom dancer at the highest level before actually becoming professional, and has been dancing for five years. She instructs different classes such as the one held on campus, and recently ran a year long program that taught deaf adults of the Worcester Massachusetts area ballroom dance.