Monday, Jan. 30 marked the first week of Bluesion Dance Crew’s 5-week tango lessons. Every Monday, Bluesion Dance Crew hosts lessons of various styles of dance open to students of all experience.
Bluesion is a club that brings the opportunity of social dancing to campus. Each Bluesion class brings in a chance to dance, learn, and mingle. The majority of the classes are not student-taught. Bluesion instead brings in instructors to direct the dance classes.
The Argentine Tango is taught at Bluesion. The tango originated in Argentina and Uruguay but many styles of tango have since developed as the dance has been passed on and interpreted in other areas of the world.
“It’s a very intense dance and relies on a strong emotional connection to a partner and a real willingness to learn and excel at the dance,” said Whitney Bautista and Emma de Amicis, Bluesion representatives.
While the basic knowledge of the tango certainly augments the dance repertoire, aspects of the tango influence other disciplines, like figure skating and synchronized swimming.
Despite the tango’s intensity, students with all levels of dance experience are welcome to the Monday lessons.
“The goal of Bluesion is to teach as many people as possible—regardless of dance background—a variety of different dances,” said the Bluesion representatives.
With such an open environment, Bluesion is an ideal place for learning. Last semester Bluesion imparted lessons of basic dancing, dancing etiquette, and West Coast Swing. This semester the possibility of lessons in Salsa, East Coast Swing, and the Lindy Hop are presented.
Along with the classes, Bluesion organizes blues dancing excursions for the club members to employ their recently acquired dance knowledge outside of the Field House. They have gone to Blues Underground in Seattle amongst other dancing venues.
As a club, Bluesion fosters an environment of success and satisfaction in learning and applying the dances outside of the meetings.
“We encourage students who become involved with the club to go out social dancing in order to become more comfortable and familiar with the dance styles we learn,” said Bautista and de Amicis.
Bluesion creates an excellent environment to get rid of the “case of the Mondays.” In December, Bluesion hosted a meeting during finals week, giving students a chance to blow off some steam and dance through their study break.
As a safe space for all dancers, Bluesion is a great place to “step” into. Every Monday from 7 p.m. to 9 p.m. at the Field House dance room, the club will be there to partake in some quality Monday evening fun.