The Claremont Colleges Ballroom Dance Company

CCBDC celebrated Halloween in style with its Masquerade Ball on Friday, November 2nd. The ballroom was decorated for the occasion with spooky skeletons and several pumpkins delicately carved with dancers—adding a touch that made this Halloween party uniquely ballroom.

Our own Paul Roach started off the night in style—dressed to the nines in his tail suit—leading a whole ballroom of costumed dancers in an American Tango lesson. Three hours of social dancing followed, with dances ranging from Lindy to Cha-Cha and Salsa to Foxtrot, with a couple Paso Dobles, Polkas and Viennese Waltzes thrown in for good measure. Lest the lesson at the start of the evening go to waste, quite a few Tangos were interspersed through the course of the evening.

Fresh from their stellar first performances at the opening of the LA Live art exhibit, the Campus Team wowed the huge crowd with their Tango to Gotan Project’s "Una Musica Brutal." CCBDC then welcomed Mood Swing to the ballroom, where they regaled the audience (one of the largest CCBDC has ever seen for a performance in Edmunds) with their dulcet tones, singing a cappella renditions of "Walk on the Wild Side" and the big band classic, "In the Mood." The performance concluded with Tour Team’s Samba to Ozomatli’s "Can’t Stop," a spectacular end that truly brought down the house.