Ballroom Team Tangoes Its Way to the Top

While many Harvard tailgaters were carousing last Saturday in a Boston parking lot, nine sober students were waltzing and foxtrotting in an Ohio ballroom.

Harvard-Radcliffe Ballroom Dance members garnered second and third places in team divisions at the USA National Dance Collegiate DanceSport Championships in Columbus, Ohio on Saturday.

The event was held Saturday and Sunday, hosting students from 47 colleges and universities. It consisted of several divisions, including Team Match competitions in which several couples from each university competed against couples from other schools. The couples’ scores in each dance were combined to form the team’s score for the division.

Team Captain Debbie B. Chang ’08 led Harvard to second place in the Team Match American Style Multi-Dance Competition and third in the international multi-dance.

According to the USA DanceSport Web site, contestants chose from a list of nine dance styles in the American multi-dance competition, which is divided into five rhythm dances and four smooth dances. Teams had to choose from both the rhythm category, with dances like the mambo, and the smooth division, which included the waltz and the tango. Contestants chose from similar options in the international division.

At this year’s American style contest, Sue S. Chen ’07, and Tomas E. Mikuckis ’07 won first in the foxtrot and Linnea N. Meyer ’07 and Carl Hu, who is unaffiliated with Harvard, took first in the tango for their team.

Meyer said that the DanceSport championship is just one part of the national Ohio Star Ball competition for amateurs and professionals of all ages.

“Not only does the team go to compete, but also to be part of the larger ballroom world,” said Meyer.