The Claremont Colleges Ballroom Dance Company

Cha Cha

Waltz

The Claremont Dance Festival, the biggest ballroom dance event of the semester, is starting this weekend. The event begins with an afternoon of dance classes on Friday, November 30th, and continues until the awards brunch on Sunday morning. Both the campus and tour teams have been preparing for this busy, dance-packed weekend all semester long, and, as the festival draws near, the excitement for this long awaited event only grows.

This is the first time that the CCBDC has endeavored to put on a large event in the Fall, and the idea has been greeted with much enthusiasm. All members of the team -- from the dancers who began ballroom just three short months ago, to the four-year ballroom veterans -- have been involved in the production of this a large and ambitious event. Students who are studying abroad and won’t be able to participate in the Spring concert are particularly excited to have a chance to take part in a large ballroom event this year.

All day Friday and Saturday, the Claremont Dance Festival will be offering a variety of ballroom and social dance lessons. The lessons range from beginning to advanced, in order to cater not only to students taking ballroom classes, but to those who have never danced ballroom as well. Styles being taught vary from International Standard and Latin to Salsa, Lindy Hop, West Coast Swing, and even Argentine Tango. A schedule of classes is available at http://claremontballroom.org/festival.

The highlight of the weekend will most certainly be the evening events, which will allow dancers with all levels of experience to get onto the dance floor and show everyone just how much they’ve learned. On Friday, Dancing with the Claremont Stars kicks off the night’s formal Black and White Ball. After the competition ends, Paul Roach will be teaching a waltz lesson, which will be followed by hours of open dancing. As if that weren’t enough, the events continue Saturday night with an Intercollegiate Dance Party. The night will be filled with many fun informal competitions, with highlights such as the CCBDC’s first ever same-sex rumba contest!

In addition to preparing the festival’s events, campus and tour teams have been practicing all semester long to learn and perfect routines that will be performed – many for the first time! – this weekend. The formation routines will be showcased both nights, and are comprised of a very diverse lineup of dances, demonstrating how broadly talented our Claremont dancers really are. There will be a lively rock jive, a sultry tango, a bubbly samba, a captivating paso doble, and an innovative and entertaining foxtrot-cha-cha battle, as well as several solo performances. The Harry Potter Standard medley, which won the CCBDC a 6th national championship title only two weeks ago, will be working its magic once again. The companies 80’s medley, which will compete regionally next semester, will also be premiered.

The Claremont Dance Festival is a unique Intercollegiate and community program. The company hopes to put its motto, "it’s not just about dance," into practice by building camaraderie around the infectious and carefree spirit of dance. The CCBDC hopes to foster a tight-knit Intercollegiate ballroom community, and has invited colleges from all around the region to the festival. There will be members from Caltech, UCSB, and UCSD attending. Visiting instructors include Can Aksoy, multiple National Collegiate Champion, who will be teaching Argentine tango, and Champion West Coast Swing dancer Matt Sugihara (with our own Lauren Wann) will be teaching his smooth moves, as well.

As registration continues to roll in, the ballroom buzzes with the collective excitement of the 80-student dance company. The admission price is low: admission for all events of the weekend is just $15 dollars for students, and $3 per separate event. Registration is taken online or at the door. Sales are hot, but, as this weekend will show, CCBDC is just heating up.

Company Dancers prepare to dance with the StarsThe second annual Dancing With the Claremont Stars competition, one of the highlights of the first Annual Claremont Dance Festival, is right around the corner.

Following the overwhelming success of last year’s Dancing with the Claremont Stars, the Claremont Colleges Ballroom Dance Company (CCBDC) has been planning this year’s event since early September. "We knew last year that it would be a fun program, yet had no idea it would grow so quickly and with such community support," says Kelly Hewitt, the coordinator of last year’s event and current President of the CCBDC. "Dancing With the Claremont Stars has proven to be a unique event at the Claremont Colleges as few programs bring together students, staff, faculty and administrators from all the Claremont Colleges to work, learn, and have fun together," added Kelly, going on to say, "Dancing with the Claremont Stars really celebrates the community that is the Claremont Colleges."

The charge of putting together this event has been picked up this year by two of the CCBDC’s newest members, Jessica Hurley and Ilona Zbirun, who are doing a great job dealing with all the twists and turns. "It has been a lot of work to organize and coordinate the schedules of 16 stars and all their coaches," said Jessica. "Not to mention finding available practice spaces for them on the 5Cs," added Ilona.

"I don’t think either of us really had any idea when we signed up for this of just how popular the competition had become in its single year," added Jessica. "With such positive word-of-mouth from last year’s participants, CCBDC was overwhelmed with interest in the event, and ended up having to turn potential Stars away simply because we didn’t have enough coaches for all of the applicants," continued Ilona.

The Stars have chosen to participate in one of two dance styles, the Waltz or the Cha-Cha, and were grouped with coaches who have, over the past several weeks, given them instruction in the style of their choice. The night of the event, each Star will dance with one of their coaches, competing against the other Stars for coveted intercollegiate bragging rights. The Stars elegantly waltzing their way across the ballroom floor will be Claremont McKenna’s Andrea Morseburg and Sharylle Tan; Harvey Mudd’s Rachel Levy, Debra Mashek, and Francis Edward Su; and Scripps’ Janet Doty and Gilbert Rodriguez. The Stars dancing the Cha-Cha—a fun and lively Latin dance—will be Claremont McKenna’s Jennier Ward-Batts; Harvey Mudd’s Bob Schaffer; Pitzer’s Lydia Plasencia; Pomona’s Tabea Bruckelt and Pardis Mahdavi; and Scripps’ Debra Wood, LaKisha Tillman, and Chris Towse.

The Stars and their coaches have been working diligently in anticipation of the competition, so be sure to turn out to support your favorites. You can trust that it will, without a doubt, be quite a show.

Dancing With the Claremont Stars is scheduled for this Friday, November 30th, at 7 PM in Pomona College’s Edmunds Ballroom as part of our Formal Black and White Ball evening event. Be sure to go to the event page to register and to check out the other amazing offerings at this year’s Claremont Dance Festival, two days of dance classes, ranging from beginning to advanced, so everyone can dance like a star!

The intercollegiate night is an event for dancers from different schools to interact. It will feature performances from several colleges in the region, as well as general dancing and fun competition events.

If your team is interested in performing at intercollegiate night, please contact our organizers at festival@claremontballroom.org.

The first hour of the ball will feature Dancing with the Claremont Stars, followed by dance lessons and general dancing. Several demonstrations including the Harry Potter medley and several debuts of new choreography will be interspersed.

To register for the Claremont Dance Festival 2007, please consult the registration prices below (why are these prices so low?).

Once you have decided which tickets you want to purchase (tickets are cheaper when bought in a package), simply calculate the total amount using our registration form and send the form and check or cash to:

Paul Roach
Director, Claremont Colleges Ballroom Dance Company
ATTN: Claremont Dance Festival Registration
170 East Sixth Street, Smith Campus Center Suite #118, Box 1676
Claremont CA 91711

Preregistration (until November 27th, 2007):

Day of registration:

The Claremont Dance Festival is the premiere collegiate dancesport festival in the USA, offering four days of fun events, demonstrations, and extremely accessible dance lessons for all kinds of dancers, from newcomers to professionals.

For more information on each event, click on the title, or click here to register for this exciting new event put on by the 6-time defending national collegiate formation champions Claremont Colleges Ballroom Dance Company (and one of the premiere amateur dancesport companies in the world).

Click here to register!

As with all events hosted by the Claremont Colleges Ballroom Dance Company, the festival is centered at Edmunds Ballroom at Pomona.

Note: The schedule is still flexible.

Friday:

Saturday:

Sunday:

The Claremont Colleges Ballroom Dance Company is pleased to announce the first annual Claremont Dance Festival. Commencing Thursday, November 28th, and lasting until Sunday, December 2nd, the Claremont Dance Festival will be a celebration of all forms of partner dancing, including ballroom, latin, social, salsa, swing, and argentine tango.

With two full days of dance workshops (Friday and Saturday), anyone can learn to dance during the festival and the events at night make the lessons well worth it! Dinner dances, a formal ball, Dancing with the Claremont Stars, and a Intercollegiate Night will keep you dancing all weekend long, and performances by your five-time undefeated national collegiate formation champions the Claremont Colleges Ballroom Dance Company will give you a chance to rest your feet and watch some world class formation dancesport.

Keep checking back for more information, including a chance to buy discounted tickets in advance. If you would like more information, please contact Rob Donnelly (PO '09), the Chair of the Event, or Paul Roach, the Director of the Claremont Colleges Ballroom Dance Company.