The Claremont Colleges Ballroom Dance Company

You may not have guessed it, but David Carrington (PO ’10), tour team member, English major and occasional foosball champion, got his start in dance all the way back in the first grade— as a member of a competitive square-dancing team.

"There was an annual talent show," David explained, "and our PE teachers back in the day got a group of eight of us and trained us in the art of square-dancing ... we didn’t win. And I sorta stopped dancing from there ... I guess my little first grade self was heartbroken at not being a champion." However, he didn’t let the early disappointment stand in his way for long: "I picked it back up the summer before my senior year ... and sort of haven’t stopped since."

That may be something of an understatement. David spends, by his reckoning, an average of fifteen hours a week in the ballroom—and that’s not counting the weeks leading up to competitions, such as Nationals in Ohio or the more recent San Luis Obispo, at which he and partner Kelly Hewitt cleaned up with first- and second-place wins in at least six events. He’s a regular at Friday night Salsa Club and teaches Latin technique on Sundays. David’s investment in the community of the Claremont Colleges Ballroom Dance Company stems, he says, from his love of dance as a social art.

"I do all the hardcore technique training and technique classes and everything so that I can be a really good social dancer. I do it to fully understand what leading and following is and ... be able to lead some really cool stuff. My roots are in social dancing and I will come back to that when I leave college."

Given his dedication to social dance, it’s probably unsurprising that one of the things David likes most about CCBDC is the sense of shared interests and common pursuits. "There’s so many people who understand what I love to do. There are seventy people on team who when I’m excited about a new dance move or when I’m excited about some new choreography or a new song that I’ve heard or whatever it is ... they get excited about it too." For David, this sense of cohesion within the Claremont dance community extends further than simply sharing a favorite dance (though for the record, his is the Rumba, hands down); he believes that CCBDC provides all its members with opportunities to learn from each other to improve their technique, their knowledge of other dance forms, and generally have a ball. Regardless of skill level or hours spent practicing, David maintains, "Everyone has something to share."

As a sophomore, David still has a multitude of opportunities to share what he knows with the Claremont community—through a technique class, a Friday night party, or just a discussion with friends and teammates. His thoughtfulness, talent, and dedication leave no doubt that he will continue to be an important and essential presence within CCBDC.

"The whole culture’s great,” David said, “and that’s what it is, a culture for me."

Now in her final semester at Pomona, Super Senior Kimberly Loo has had plenty of time to soak up the goodness of ballroom dance. As a seasoned member of the tour team, Kim was hard pressed to come up a single answer when I asked her what her favorite CCBDC memory was: "I don’t think I can answer that . . . All I know is that there were plenty of good times. Plenty. Of course, I love love LOVE performing. I am this strange combination of uber-shy introvert and crazy attention-seeker, so performing dance is AWESOME. It provides the opportunity to entertain people without having to give speeches or use words."

What started as a last minute class pick developed into central passion for this very busy student. Kim remembers, "My sponsor group got the very last class registration spot freshman year. I was standing in line commiserating with them when I found out that half of them were taking ballroom dance. It sounded really fun! I was going to be taking ballet and hip hop dance, and I figured I might as well sign up for another dance class. You know, try something different." A win-win for all, ballroom turned out to be a perfect activity for Kim. We get the benefit of her stellar performance and personality, and she gets to socialize and take much-needed breaks from her ambitious academic endeavors. After her initial semester of ballroom, Kim became part of campus team in the spring of her first year, followed by a quick jump to tour team sophomore year. From that point on, Kim was a dedicated ballroom dancer, applying her typical ethos of 110% dedication as part of the CCBDC family.

It seems almost impossible that Kim does all that she does inside and outside the ballroom—Kim is a impressive triple major in English, Dance and Anthropology, writing her anthropology thesis about ballroom, and her English thesis about prophecy and cursing in Oedipus Tyrannus. In addition to schoolwork, Kim manages the Safe Escort Service, interns at Soulstice Marketing, and TAs at Sycamore Elementary. Not surprisingly, Kim has plans for her life after Pomona, aiming to spend time in Hong Kong or Japan teaching English and, of course, doing ballroom dance.

Kim takes an equally abundant approach to her work inside the ballroom, training extensively to secure another prize-winning performance in the upcoming Nationals competition, serving as the Historian for CCBDC, and even making time to drop into technique classes to help out. There’s no end to the dancing in sight. As I ask about her dance horizons post-Pomona, Kim replies, "I will always be a social dancer . . . There is always more to learn. I think it would be fun to work in the dance industry in some capacity, perhaps in marketing and public relations." To this, I can only smile and think of all the people who will be lucky enough to encounter Kim as she dances through life. If, upon knowing Kim, you sense something super-human in her extraordinary existence, suffice to know it is indeed something special—Kim has ascended from the level of humanity into the magical realm of dancer extraordinaire.

Nate Miller, a Senior IR Major at Pomona College, is new to Campus Team this semester. Up until now he’s kept himself busy off the dance floor, spending the fall of his Junior year in Freiburg, Germany, an experience he describes as “really, pretty awesome.”

Though he took his first ballroom class in his Sophomore year—Bronze Latin—it was not until the spring of his Junior year that he began to think more about dance, or the possibility of joining the CCBDC. We have Evan Pardo, Nate’s longtime friend, to thank for this. Evan’s constant raving about what a blast it was to be on team kindled Nate’s inspiration to try out this past September.

Now that he’s joined team, Nate too, has been having a blast. He even described it as "awesome!" without any pushing or prodding on my part. He’s been having an especially fun time getting to know all the people on team:

"I had no idea: the people are really cool; kinda crazy, but really cool," he said - a description that immediately hits home for anyone who has spent time with the dance team. Nate has even been drawn in to the team’s new procrastination tool: the forums. "Reading the different posts on the discussion threads - hilarious!"

When asked about the tango routine he’s a part of with Campus Team, Nate describes it as "incredible. The tango is hottt, with multiple Ts!" He adds that everyone in the routine is "really fun to hang out with."

Beyond all this, Nate is enjoying the improvement he has already made, and looking forward to getting even better. He commented that "the atmosphere on team is really great not only for getting better, but for feeling good about what you know. Its really positive." When asked to boil it all down, Nate said he really wants to "learn a lot more dance."

Well put, Nate.

This week we introduce a new feature to the Claremont Ballroom Webspace - the Dancer of the Week feature. Each week we'll feature a different dancer, and hopefully get around most of the company by year end. This week we're meeting Kelly Hewitt, a senior at Scripps College and the 2007-2008 Senior President.

“So, Kelly, when did you start dancing with Claremont Colleges Ballroom Dance Company (CCBDC)?” I ask her as we step out of the ballroom after our rigorous two-hour rehearsal on Friday morning. She looks impressively pulled together and energetic, but, then again, she’s a pro—“I started classes first semester of my freshman year, and then joined Campus team the next semester,” she replies modestly.

Since then, Kelly has moved her way up in the company contributing exstensive amounts of time, effort, quality dancing, and stellar ideas. She joined Tour team in her sophomore year, and her junior year became not only Secretary and Dancing with the Claremont Stars Coordinator, but also performed in the legendary Bond medley, helping CCBDC cement its 5th National Collegiate Formation Championship.

All of her accomplishments and dedication are added to the fact that now, in her senior year, Kelly has taken on the role of Senior President of CCBDC. But while her dancing accomplishments have been vital to her success, perhaps even more crucial to Presidential role is her personable attitude and cheery sense of humor – she’s never without a smile or a friendly word.
Which is why it is easy to say that the company missed Kelly dearly this past semester while she studied abroad in Seville, Spain. A dancer at heart, she added some Flamenco to her repertoire of Tap, Jazz, Hip Hop, and Ballet during her time there. With all of her experience, it’s no wonder that, along with her dual major of Politics and Public Policy at Scripps, she is also a Dance minor.

To say that Kelly Hewitt is very involved at the Claremont Colleges would be an understatement—she is not only the President of CCBDC, but also the Head Manager of the Scripps Store, a student member of the Board of Trustees, the student coordinator for Campus Communities United for Justice, and staff for the Scripps College Summer Academy.

Somehow, with all of her responsibilities, she still finds time to be wholeheartedly enthusiastic about ballroom dance. “I’m most excited for the Claremont Dance Festival,” coming up in late November, “because it will be a great opportunity to meet other teams—and it will be just like a four-day dance party!”

And despite her already overwhelming commitment to the CCBDC, Kelly’s eagerness to dance for an entire four days is one of the reasons the CCBDC is so glad to have her back as President. And as she dashes off to conduct another meeting, the certain purpose in her step makes it seem obvious that she’s the right dancer for the job.