What is Ballroom Dance Club?
Ballroom dancing is a fun and engaging physical activity that offers stress relief and opportunities to build friendships with other members. It can help improve your posture, boost your confidence, and even enhance your resume. Interestingly, many of the top Adult Amateur ballroom dancers in the US are Computer Science or Engineering majors and graduates — you might even have one of them interview you for your next job!
What We Do
Each semester, we learn the basics of various ballroom dances, including the
Waltz,
Cha-cha,
Tango,
Rumba,
Foxtrot, and
Swing.
Beyond our classes, we have opportunities to perform for the ballroom dance community in Hawaii. We also participate in the ballroom dance competitions held twice a year in the state, and in 2024, we had the chance to compete nationally at the DanceSport Championships.
Typically, we have at least one
performance and one
competition each semester.
Everyone is Welcome!
The Ballroom Dance Club encourages
non-dancers and
beginners to join and learn how to ballroom dance.
No dance experience is required to join the club!
Beginner's sessions meet every Tuesday at 6pm in Studio 2 of the Athletic Complex at University of Hawaii at Manoa.
Our
beginners session is 6:00pm to 7:30pm, during which we learn
basic steps of several styles. We continue to build upon them throughout the semester.
Make sure to bring water and wear shoes!
How to Join
Join by simply
showing up and
scanning the QR code for our weekly attendance!
As part of
ACMānoa, you can join the ACM server and give yourself the
ballroom dance role in the #roles channel. We also have our own ballroom dance club discord server that you can join to connect with the ballroom community here!
Follow our instagram,
@bdcuhm, for more updates.
Meet the Instructors!
Our instructors, Ravi Narayan and Synthia Sumukti, have been ballroom dancing for over 25 years. They have represented Hawaii at the USA Dance Nationals Championships since 2015 and compete in all four styles of ballroom dance. They are also the President and Vice-President of the Honolulu Chapter of USA Dance, which is the Recognized Sport Organization for Dancesport under the United States Olympic & Paralympic Committee umbrella.
Meet the Officers!
RAVI NARAYAN
President
GERGORY SNYDER
Vice-President
MICHAELLA VILLANUEVA
Treasurer
AMANDA KANTHACK
Secretary
ALYSSIA CHEN
Marketing Officer
ALEX PICKEN
Communications Officer
Resources
Shoes
For the beginners session, you don't need dance shoes to participate. However, if you wanted to perform you would need to buy ballroom shoes! Here is a quick guide to navigate through which shoes to get.
Follows:
-
Cheapest Option: Amazon RoseMoli Women's Latin Dance Shoes
- Select color Tan, 2.2 inch heels ~ $30
The following are more durable options, highly recommended, and can be used for practice and performance.
-
Discount Dance Ladies Latin/Rhythm
- Select color Brown Satin only ~ $60
-
Discount Dance Ladies Latin/Rhythm
- Select color Brown Satin only ~ $60
-
Discount Dance Ladies Latin/Rhythm
- Select color Brown Satin or Beige Brown ~ $60
-
Best Quality: StarDanceShopper Scorpio Latin/Rhythm Shoes
- ~ $80
NOTES: No Silver, Gold or White color
Leads:
-
Discount Dance Men’s Standard Ballroom Shoes
- Select Black Leader ~ $70
-
StarDanceShop Smooth/Standard Ballroom Shoes
- Select Black Leather ~ $100
In case you are interested in dance pants. Dance pants make a big difference in your ability to move and will improve your quality of dancing. They are more comfortable and easier to dance in than regular pants.
Hair & Makeup
Ballroom requires a particular look, one very different from your day-to-day look! Here’s some tutorials to help guide you to your ballroom look. Make sure to try it out on your own before your big day, and reach out to another member if you need help.
For individuals with super short hair, hair should be slicked back and neatly groomed.
Extra Tips:
- For hair, generally you section out a piece of the front for styling and then use the rest of the hair to form the ponytail that eventually becomes the bun. For the front styling, you can also try braiding it and then securing it to the back. It does not have to go over both sides either, it typically goes to your right side.