Julia Wildman
CMU Swing Dancing Club members learn to dip as part of the advanced swing combo. They offer beginner and advanced combos each meeting for students of all experience levels.
The Get Rowdy County Dance club creates a welcoming environment for all students to kick up their heels and have fun. Both novices and advanced dancers can find a place to socialize and dance with friends.
Vice president Grace Layton began dancing six months ago when her friends invited her, and has kept coming back.
“I really like the culture around dancing. Everyone’s just really friendly, and you can always find a face in the crowd that you can go talk to,” said Layton.
The club began when Co-President and Founder Clara Lindahl was looking for a way to continue dancing in college, after being in the competitive dance world.
“I met a friend who told me about line dancing. And so I went back home, which is on the front range, to the Grizzly Rose, which is a bar out there. And I was like, oh, this line dancing and swing dancing thing is pretty cool,” said Lindahl. “And I came back [to CMU] and I was like, okay, we need something like that here.”
The club started informally with only five people in September 2023.
“We started unofficially meeting out just in the grass, teaching each other what we knew, learning stuff,” said Lindahl.
The club was officially instated the next semester, and has continued to grow. It now has 32 members registered on Presence, though as many as 80 people regularly show up to their meetings.
Co-President Ashley McAllister learned about the club at an event during Parents’ Weekend and soon joined the leadership team. McAllister had started dancing with friends in high school, and wanted to continue in college.
“I started dancing with my friends back home, also on the front range, in Colorado Springs at a bar called Whiskey Baron, actually in preparation for prom, because I wanted to learn how to two-step,” said McAllister.
Country dancing is a broad term that encompasses many styles. The Get Rowdy Country Dance club focuses on swing dancing and line dancing. Line dancing is a choreographed routine to a particular song, typically performed by many people at once in lines. Swing dancing is a partner dance that is improvisational.
“I think having line dance is really cool, because it’s separate and you get to dance by yourself and learn how to stylize things by yourself,” said McAllister. “But swing dance and partner dancing is really cool, because you have to learn how to work with someone else and kind of build that connection so you know what you’re doing. It’s not a choreographed dance […] It’s really learning how to read your partner and follow them.”
Lindahl and McAllister incorporate both swing and line dancing into their meetings. Their meetings begin with time to mingle and free dance before they break students into groups based on interest to learn a line dance and a beginner or advanced swing combo.
“So we kind of try to integrate both skill levels into our lessons at a time, and then our instructors are really good about, like, talking to the members and going and dancing with them, because usually they’re kind of shy,” said McAllister.
The club recruits CMU students as instructors to teach new routines to the members. The co-presidents put emphasis on recruiting instructors who are not just good dancers, but help create a supportive and friendly environment for those who are new to swing dancing.
“We look for people that are willing to speak to our members and dance with our members and go out of their comfort zones to help them learn,” said McAllister.
Freshman hospitality management student Michaela Van’t Land appreciates the learning environment they’ve created.
“I feel like they do a really good job of, like, teaching and letting us also like, explore our own dancing. So it’s not like just teaching or just dancing. It’s kind of a mix, and I think that’s really nice to be able to try out,” said Van’t Land.
The club has created lasting friendships and community for the co-presidents.
“I’ve met some of my best friends doing it – particularly the instructors, but some members too. Just having to go through the entire process, a process of starting a club with little help and running the club once it has been started and working with everyone, I think it really built strong relationships, and dancing’s just fun,” said Lindahl. “It’s something I’ve enjoyed all of my life, so I have a special place in my heart for that and the people I get to share that with.”
McAllister has also found the leadership aspects of the club rewarding.
“It’s taught me a lot about leadership and it’s also taught me a lot about relationship making, and so I’m much more social and I’m much more upbeat and able to lead people without controlling them and it’s made me more organized,” said McAllister. “Like, it’s just totally changed my life. It gave me a new responsibility and I love it, and I’ve met a lot of friends and had a lot of fun.”
Lindahl and McAllister hope to bring more country dancing to the Western Slope.
“Right now, the only real place you can go country dance is Mama Ree’s or that warehouse a little bit,” said Lindahl. “So I would just like to see more of a community on the Western Slope, kind of different bars opening up, different groups going out and just dancing in random places.”
Instructor Asa Crouch puts the goals of the club simply:
“It’s a good place to learn if you want to learn to do it, and it’s just good people to hang out with.”
Get Rowdy’s favorite dances and moves:
Gone, Gone, Gone– Clara Lindahl
American Kids– Grace Layton
Spinning– Ashley McAllister, Willow Holloran
Apple jacks– Clara Lindahl
Fabulous the line dance– Ashley McAllister