By Arden Berry | Staff Writer
Gather Dance members meet on Sunday nights, sometimes to pirouette and other times to pop-and-lock.
Pennington, N.J., junior Gianna Dominique, president of the club, said she founded Gather Dance this semester to give students a space to learn a variety of dance genres in a relaxed setting.
“Starting it was time-consuming, and I was doing it all by myself, so it took a while, but once it was all put together, it was just so easy and rewarding, and it’s been so fun to see everyone come,” Dominique said.
Dominique said the club has had 50 people attend at least one meeting, with about 15-30 members attending each week.
Los Alamos, N.M., freshman Sofia West said she appreciates that Gather Dance teaches a variety of dance styles.
“I feel like a lot of the clubs here on campus were only hip-hop or only ballet, and it’s nice because you get a little bit of everything,” West said.
West said she danced ballet throughout high school, but that other dancers in Gather Dance grew up practicing different styles.
“It’s nice to have a variation of everything so that you can learn as a dancer but also grow your own skills,” West said.
Houston freshman Onyinyechi Ogbuji said she taught herself to dance by learning the choreography in “Dance Moms.”
“I’ve been looking for a club or a team that I could dance with with no added pressure of competing or anything like that, and Gather Dance has really been that outlet to where we can just come together and just dance and change up the styles each week,” Ogbuji said.
So far, Ogbuji said they have done hip-hop, ballet, contemporary, jazz and musical theater dances.
“We did a jazzy musical theater dance from a soundtrack from Annie, and I would never forget that day because … that was my very first dance class ever in my entire life,” Ogbuji said. “And the dance was really easy to learn. I loved dancing.”
To teach a variety of dances, the club uses different dance teachers. Columbus, Ohio, freshman Abby Rathburn is the instructor coordinator for Gather Dance.
“My job is mostly just coordinating with people who want to teach,” Rathburn said. “Just giving people a chance to share their own choreography.”
Dominique said members of the club can reach out to Rathburn to teach their choreography.
Rathburn said she became interested after meeting Dominique at Late Night and has found joy in dancing with the club since joining.
“This club’s purpose is just to provide people with an avenue to dance and find joy in that,” Rathburn said. “I felt like in high school I struggled sometimes to like see the joy every day, but having it especially on Sunday nights is a great start to our week and I just really appreciate that, and I think other people will too.”
