UMass Ballroom Dance Team

Frequently Asked

Miscellaneous

Do I need experience?
- You do not need any prior experience with any type of dance to join the UMass Ballroom Dance Team or to attend our social events. We teach you all of the dances from the very beginning, starting with the most basic steps.

What types of dances does your team do?
- Our team practices and competes in all four styles of ballroom dance. These include Waltz, Viennese Waltz, Foxtrot, Tango, Quickstep, Cha Cha Cha, Samba, Rumba, Paso Doble, Jive, East Coast Swing, Bolero, and Mambo competitively. At our social lessons, we also dance Salsa, Bachata, and West Coast Swing.

What kind of music can I dance to?
- You’d be surprised how many songs on the radio sync up with ballroom dances! If there’s a type of music you like, there’s likely a ballroom dance that you can pair with it. To see some examples of our music, you can look at our Spotify profile “umassballroom."

Competitive Team

What are tryouts like?
- Tryouts are held at the beginning of every semester. When you arrive at tryouts, we will give you a number to pin to your back and a quick form to fill out. Next, some of our upper level team members will demonstrate one of the Latin/Rhythm dances, like Cha Cha, and then teach you the basic steps and a few moves. Once you’ve had a little time to practice, a panel of judges, composed of upper level team members and team board members, will watch you dance. Then, the process repeats with one of the Smooth/Standard dances, like Waltz, so that you have another chance to impress the judges with a different dance. After tryouts, the judges tally their scores and post the results.

How often does the team practice?
- As a newcomer (your first semester on the team) you will have two obligations with the team every week: a two hour practice on a weeknight, and a mentoring session on with higher level dancers to work on technique.
- Team members are also strongly suggested to attend all our social dance lessons on Mondays.
- After newcomer semester, in addition to attending social dance lessons on Mondays and a two hour practice on a weeknight, members will attend a coaching with professional dancers about once a week.

Socials

What clothes and shoes should I wear?
- The dress code for socials is casual. You can wear whatever you wore to class or work during the day.

Do I need to bring a partner?
- While you are more than welcome to bring a partner if you’d like, it is not necessary. We have plenty of social dancers who are looking for somebody to dance with.

Competition

Do I have to compete if I join the team?
- No, you are not required to compete to be a part of the team, you are encouraged to join the team at competitions and compete if you wish but it's not required.

How often does the team go to competitions?
- It depends on when competitions near us are but a rough estimate would be 1-3 per month.

What are ballroom competitions like?
- They are full days of dancing from 7 or 8 am-5-7pm.

Where does the team compete?
- We compete at any collegiate competition. The team has competed at local competitions: MIT, Brown, Yale, Harvard, RPI, WPI, Holy Cross, Tufts, and BU.

How much do competitions cost?
- This depends on when you register. If you register early the price is normally $35. If you register late, the price is about $45. We also are able to discount 1-2 competitions a semester, bringing the cost to $10-$20.