If you notice that one of your friends has suddenly transformed into John Travolta or J. Lo on the dance floor, he or she may have co-curricular dance group Everybody Dance Now! (EDN!) to thank.
"Every class, I get a great mixture of kids, some who have never danced before, and some who have claimed to only dance when they were drunk," said freshman Lara Kitain, who has been dancing for 16 years and teaches EDN!'s hip-hop class. "I help students find the rhythm and let loose; give them the opportunity to show off at a party or a club."
"One of the dancers who took my class last semester told me that she had gone out one Saturday night with her friends, and they had all complimented her on what a better dancer she had become-just because she had been taking my class," said freshman Christine D'Aguillo, who teaches EDN!'s weekly beginner jazz and lyrical class.
Since its creation was spearheaded by sophomore Allie Bohm last fall, EDN! - through free classes taught by student instructors like Kitain and D'Aguillo - has offered the Tufts community a low-pressure, non performance-oriented way to learn types of dancing including the traditional (tap, jazz, and ballet), the international (salsa and flamenco), and the more modern (hip-hop).
Early last semester, Bohm - fed up with the lack of options available to students who enjoy dancing but have a limited amount of time and money - approached Associate Professor of Drama and Dance and Director of the Dance Department Alice Trexler about forming a new on-campus dance group.
"Basically, I realized that while there are many dance groups at Tufts, they're all performance-oriented," said Bohm, who teaches EDN!'s tap class. "And, while Tufts has curricular dance classes, they're only [offered] in a limited number of dance styles, and not everyone has time in his or her schedule to take curricular dance classes."
"There seemed to be a place for a dance group that didn't have performance as its primary goal," Trexler said. "Many Tufts students have training in different dance forms and are interested in sharing these techniques with their peers as well as practicing."
"The dance program promotes a 'liberal arts' approach to dance - that is, learning for its own sake - so having a co-curricular relationship to EDN! was a natural step for us to take," Trexler added. "Although this relationship is still developing, we hope to create projects for the future."
Bohm said that many students find "going into Boston to take dance classes" to be "time-consuming and expensive." By contrast, EDN!'s classes are weekly and free, as well as non performance-oriented.
"I became involved because it's a great opportunity to stay involved in dance at Tufts without the commitment that's required by some of the other dance groups on campus," said freshman Alison Hoover, who teaches EDN!'s ballet and pointe class.
"I was used to taking tons of dance classes in high school, and it was weird coming to Tufts and not having that opportunity all the time," D'Aguillo said. "Organizations like Sarabande and SOC [Spirit of Color] are fun, but if you don't make it, you don't have much opportunity to dance."
"I thought it was a great idea to start EDN! just to dance for the sake of dancing and not worry about perfecting a dance for a show," she added.
Sophomore Kacie Nakamura, who teaches EDN!'s flamenco class, agreed. "I was part of the ballroom team last year, but had no time this year for it, though I still wanted to dance," said Nakamura, who has been flamenco dancing for 13 years.
For Nakamura, EDN! was a great opportunity to share her love of the dance form. "I ended up with four girls who showed up every lesson, and it was fun to teach them what I know," she said.
The other student instructors agree that leading EDN! classes has been a rewarding experience.
"EDN! is a great opportunity for me to keep up my skills and teach others what frees me and makes me happy!" Kitain said.
"I'm very happy with my class - the dance department has been very supportive of the group," said sophomore Mayaluz Verdecia, who teaches EDN!'s salsa classes and describes salsa dancing as "one of [her] greatest passions."
"Since my freshman year, I've been planning to create a salsa club or something, since there wasn't any group like it at Tufts," Verdecia added. "For me, this program was the opportunity I was looking for."
Leading EDN!, however, is not without its challenges. "Because there's so much [happening] on campus, and there's no requirement that students sign up for these classes or come every week, sometimes classes are huge; sometimes they are tiny," Bohm said. "It's hard to predict."
One demographic in particular has yet to give in to EDN!'s lure. "Guys do not come to dance," Nakamura said. "They should ... in flamenco, men have to have an attitude and show their strength through their actions. I would have thought this appealed to guys out there!"
