By Edna Horton/nw news editor
The Cupid Shuffle and hip-hop line dancing provided a change of pace during the NW Campus Student Success Seminars last week.
Lacreacia Sanders, associate professor of dance, presented So You Think You Can’t Dance? Sept. 15.
“I am a very shy person in social situations. The dance floor, the dance studio and dance teaching is my outlet, so I will act a fool. You will see that,” she said. “So as we progress through it, I will act crazy. I want you to act crazy too. No one in here will judge you.”
The Cupid Shuffle was just the warm-up. When the music started, Sanders had one request: keep moving.
“Anytime you hear music in the next 45 minutes, I want you to move till I say ‘5, 6, 7, 8.’ You’re improvising. I know that’s scary sometimes,” she said. “Tap a foot, bob your head. I don’t care what it is. Move a finger. I just want to see some movement.”
Next, students learned the power walk: a walk forward, a walk back, then to the right, then to the left. After doing the step a few times, Sanders encouraged everyone to add the head and the shoulders to each move.
Sanders then had everyone line up on one side of the dance floor and walk to the beat to the other side.
“I want to see your style come out when you walk,” she said.
After several more warm-up combinations, Sanders put it all together in a routine. First, as a group, everyone did the routine over and over to get the hang of it. Then they all split up into four groups of five. The first group did the routine while the rest watched and cheered them on. When all the groups had performed, everyone did the routine together once again.
Sanders suggested looking at instructional videos on dancejam.com.
“There’s a really nice placement of different videos on the Internet if you just want to sit in your room and, you know, try a few different things without people watching you all the time,” she said.
Sanders said she thought her 18-year-old cousin went to clubs.
“He doesn’t go anywhere. He sits in his room with YouTube and learns all these dance moves,” she said. “He’s really good too.”
Ammie Nichells took a dance class last semester. She came to the workshop because she wanted to try something different.
“I love dancing, and I’m usually a modern dancer, but I’ve never done hip-hop before,” she said.
Joshua Mills attended the workshop last year and recruited some friends to join him this year.
“It was the most amazing experience in the entire earth,” he said.
Aaron Broiles swing dances every Tuesday night.
“I’m kind of a cornball. I love dancing,” he said.
“I’ve been swinging for about three or four months, and I’ve really gotten into it.”
Nikki Wilson has done step for a few years and thought she would come and check out the workshop.
“I love dancing, I love it. I’m kind of not someone who likes to do it in front of people,” she said.
“I’ve got a couple people we get together and go dancing together.”
Sanders designed So You Think You Can’t Dance to show students how easy it was to get up and start moving.
She can be reached for more information at lecreacia.sanders@my.tccd.edu.
