Free dance lessons lead to fancy footwork

Most evenings, you can find graduate student Lesley Gonzalez working on her samba or practicing her rumba on campus at Woollen Gym. But until a couple of years ago, dance wasn’t a big part of her life.

“There are cassette tape videos of me trying to learn Beyoncé choreography in 2007, but that’s about it,” she said.

Gonzalez, from the small town of Harmony in western North Carolina, grew up surrounded by music and dancing at family events like quinceañeras, but she never took lessons or participated in competitive dance. That all changed when she went searching for student clubs on Heel Life during her senior year at Carolina and saw a group offering free ballroom dancing lessons on Tuesday nights.

“I went to the first couple of lessons and thought, ‘This is fun,’” Gonzalez said. “But one night the instructor brought his dance partner to the lesson, and they ran through the choreography for a showcase they had coming up. When I watched them, that was the moment I fell in love with ballroom dancing. It was so beautiful.”

Gonzalez, who will graduate in July with a master’s degree in strategic communications, was hooked. As a member of Carolina’s Ballroom Dance team, she meets with fellow dancers for lessons most nights of the week and participates in one or two competitions hosted by other universities each semester.

The dancers practice a variety of styles, including international Latin dance — like the jive, cha-cha, rumba and samba — and international standard, which features the waltz, foxtrot, quickstep and tango.

When it comes to competition outfits, “the women try to look as colorful and sparkly as possible,” said Gonzales. The Latin dances are where you’ll see the most glitter and frills; longer, feathery and flowy dresses are standard. The elaborate competition attire can be expensive, so the team keeps a collection of dresses, skirts and leotards that members can rent at a much more affordable price.

For Gonzalez, being part of the team has meant more than simply finding her footwork.

“I was homeschooled until high school and never really participated in organized sports. It was always about academics,” she said. “When I started doing ballroom, I found such a friendly and loving community. It was so nice to feel accomplished in something besides my schoolwork or my job.”

One thing Gonzalez likes about ballroom dancing is its clear definitions for personal growth. “You start as a newcomer, then move up to bronze, silver, gold,” she said. “It’s so encouraging to work alongside the advanced dancers and learn from them.”