UE Ballroom Dance Club has been teaching Latin music and dance to students at Glenwood Leadership as part of the club’s Mad Hot Ballroom program for several weeks. The team will perform a Cuban Salsa dance routine for the first time in costume, on Friday, September 28 from 7:00-7:30 p.m. in Eykamp Hall in UE’s Ridgway University Center, as part of the University’s Family Weekend. The group will also perform a waltz, the tango and the cha-cha. Free and open to the public.
Event Contact: Erin Lewis 812-449-1044 (Available for interviews following the event)
For more details, see information below.
UE Ballroom Dance Club Partners with Glenwood Leadership Academy for Mad Hot Ballroom Program
The UE Ballroom Dance Club has partnered with Glenwood Leadership Academy in its pilot Mad Hot Ballroom program, based on the 2005 award-winning documentary, with curriculum developed by champion instructor Pierre Dulaine.
In this program, UE students and staff teach Latin dance and music in elementary and middle schools. This year’s pilot program was a partnership between Erin Lewis, associate director of UE’s Center for Innovation & Change and owner and operator of Evansville Dancesport Academy, and Angela Paul, Glenwood Leadership Academy’s dance instructor.
The Mad Hot Ballroom program is the result of a Global Scholar partnership between Erin Lewis and UE assistant professor of music Shawn Teichmer. Shawn and Erin studied the music and dance of Cuba, then contracted with world champion choreographers from the UK, Fred Astaire Dance Studio in Carmel, Indiana, and Cuba to develop a routine for the students.
UE staff and ballroom club leadership then taught the Cuban Salsa dance routine, as well as the cultural history of Cuban dance, at Glenwood twice a week for about ten weeks.
The team will now perform the routine for the first time in costume, on Friday, September 28 from 7:00-7:30 p.m. in Eykamp Hall in UE’s Ridgway University Center, as part of Family Weekend.
UE Ballroom Club students and staff will also perform a Waltz, Tango and Cha Cha.
The students’ costumes and coaching were made possible by a generous donation from Judith Ann Griffin, who believes in the power of dance to heal and inspire.
UE’s Mad Hot Ballroom program will eventually host an annual dance gala and city-wide competition for children in our community.
