Quiet Time for Ballroom Dance Team
The Ballroom Dance Club is often called upon to add flare to College events. Here, dancers showcase their moves at the 50th anniversary gala.
The sound of music has been replaced by silence for members of the Thomas Nelson ballroom dance club. The spring semester normally is a hectic time for them. In addition to a busy class schedule, many of the members have jobs, and much of their free time is consumed with practice.
Then there are the competitions, the three most important ones of the year. All of those were canceled because of the coronavirus pandemic, leaving the club members and adviser Pam Roberts with more time on their hands than they would like.
"We would just be finishing up," Roberts said wistfully in a recent interview.
She said they would have competed in Richmond, at Penn State and finished with nationals at the University of Maryland.
"We didn't compete at all this semester," she noted.
Not having a spring season was particularly hard on those who graduated this semester.
"They were really disappointed, especially my seniors, which is three-quarters of my team," said Roberts, who works in accounts receivable at the College and helped form the club in 2014. "They wanted to go out with a bang."
There would have been a good chance of that happening too, as the team was coming off a successful fall season.
"In two competitions, we brought home almost 40 awards," Roberts noted. "We did pretty darn good."
Among those awards: a first-place finish in their division in Latin newcomer and second place in rhythm in an event at Columbia University in New York City.
Instead, Roberts already is looking ahead to next year, but there's a lot of uncertainty.
"I don't know how many alumni I'm going to have coming back," she said. "I'm just not sure how next year's going to pan out. If we don't have students on campus in the fall, we won't have any fall team."
With the College canceling all student activities, there have been no practices. However, they are trying to stay in touch with one another.
"Everybody's just kind of taking a step back," Roberts said, adding it's been very difficult for her, too.
"I miss the kids something terrible. They're like my own kids, seeing them so much and traveling with them. They are a family."
In addition to their practices, team members would often attend different Latin nights at area restaurants and clubs.
"They're always together doing stuff. We're a very good, dysfunctional family," she said with a laugh.
As with many others, it's a family that can't wait to get back together.