Members of the Dance club include Patricia Nealy, Cassandra Ivey, “Sumbooka” Lee, Iavae Phillips, Katrina Steward, Katrina Reid, Lauren Hallford, Lacey Harper, Denise Colemon, Cierra Johnson, Whitney Dickerson, and Rachel Lockhart, they are featured in the slideshow. The photos were taken by Francesca Zagami.

Francesa Zagami

Staff Writer

frzagami@valdosta.edu

Every other Thursday at 4 pm, about fifteen students gather in the University Center’s dance studio, room 2108, to share their passion for dancing. VSU’s Repertory Dance Club’s mission is to provide and promote dance performance as well as dance education on the VSU campus, in the Valdosta community, and beyond.  Some of the members are dance majors and some are simply interested in dancing.

Any student is welcome to show up and dance with the club. The meetings generally last an hour. Members pay  $ 15 each semester for dues and are given opportunities to teach, choreograph and perform.  The Dance Club also takes trips to conferences where members can watch professional dancers.

This Sunday the group will be carpooling to Gainesville, Fla., to see Pilobolus (a dance group that utilizes a unique weight sharing approach) perform. The Dance Club also participates in the American College Dance Festival each year. This year they will perform three pieces, one choreographed by the faculty and two by students.

Dance Club members are also active in community service projects. The Dance Club participates in the Coffee County High School Arts week by presenting choreography and teaching dance improvisation.  Outside of room 2108, the Dance Club has set up a donation box for their Food Drive which will last until the end of November.  On Saturday, members will be going to help the Second Harvest Food Bank sort through the food and goods collected so far.

“We’re a little club that does a lot,” said Katrina Reid, a senior dance major and Dance Club Events Coordinator. “The Dance Club was created to foster camaraderie amongst the dancers. We’re reaching out to new dance majors as well as VSU students who just want to dance. Some people get intimidated when we invite them to dance at a meeting, but what they usually find is a laid-back atmosphere where everyone is having fun.”

The Dance Club was founded in 2003 by VSU dancers and are currently celebrating their five-year-anniversary. They often collaborate with VSU to bring dance to the student body. The program SCOPE allows members to teach dance to the local community through Continuing Education. The Dance Club has also been working with the Campus Wellness Committee to coordinate yoga lessons on Tuesdays at 6 p.m. in room 2108. For this fall’s Parent’s Weekend, the Dance Club performed an informal concert consisting of tap, improvisation and jazz pieces.

“For me, the best part of belonging to the Dance Club is bonding with the other girls,”  Rachel Lockhart, junior dance major said. “It’s so nice to sit around and talk about dance with other people who are passionate about it. I have been a member for four years now and it gets better each year as more people join.”

Today’s meeting will focus on hip hop dancing. Interested students should come wearing clothing that does not restrict movement and comfortable shoes.  The first 10 minutes or so, the group will deal with any business and discuss upcoming events. The remaining time will be spent dancing. So, students should be ready to check their inhibitions at the door and let loose.