MU | F e a t u r e s
T
ime was, students caught
in the act of dancing
might have been asked
to leave Manchester. But
today there’s a movement
afoot at MU, thanks to Jim
Brumbaugh-Smith ’84, whose passion for
ballroom dancing is catching on with students,
faculty and staff.
If you’re headed to North Manchester
anytime soon, pack your dancing shoes.
Brumbaugh-Smith, who has taught
mathematics at MU for more than 20 years,
started dancing for fun with his wife, Amy
Brumbaugh-Smith ’81, in the spring of
In fall 2014, Brumbaugh-Smith took 10
students to Dance Tonight Fort Wayne and
three weeks later, that core group launched
the Ballroom and Latin Dance Club at MU.
“Dancing is not as difficult as you may think,”
says Kari Cottingim ’15 Arnett, president of
the club her senior year. “It’s very basic.”
Brumbaugh-Smith also invited Didier to teach
physical education courses in ballroom dance
at Manchester. It was so successful that they
repeated the ballroom course and added one
in Latin style dancing last spring, making a
total of 70 students learning ballroom and
Latin dance last year. This fall, Manchester
offered two ballroom classes and a swing
dance class.
“Dancing is about more than learning steps. You become
more confident even out of class.”
– Jordan Lett ’16
2011. “We just really enjoyed it,” says the
associate professor. In Fort Wayne, the
Brumbaugh-Smiths met dance instructors
Tony Didier and his wife, Danel NickelsDidier ’98, a Manchester graduate and former
attorney.
“Ever since the ’60s, couples dancing hasn’t
been popular. There are three or four
generations of people that never were into
dancing culture,” says Brumbaugh-Smith.
“But it has come back a lot in the past
10 years,” he adds, in part because of the
television show “Dancing With the Stars.”
For its part, the Ballroom and Latin Dance
Club offers informal sessions to practice
dances learned in the formal courses. The
club offers monthly classes with a certified
instructor, outings to public dances, and
sponsored events open to all students,
faculty and staff. “It’s a good way to get
out,” says Derek Self ’16, who attended a
spring dance event and recommends it to
other students. His friend, Emily
Grant ’18, took the first ballroom course
and the Latin dance course. The classes
are fun, she says, and she’d like to take
more.
Derek Self ’16 and Emily Grant ’18 (previous page) enjoy a weekend dance on campus;
above right, professional dancers perform last year at a Values, Ideas and the Arts event; on
opposite page, Erik Nakajima ’16 and Rachel Ulrich ’15 (top photo) and Ben Johnson ’18
(right) enjoy a weekend dance; and (left) Professor Beate Gilliar and Associate Professor
Jim Brumbaugh-Smith ’84 demonstrate ballroom dance steps at last year’s Homecoming.
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Photo by Clay Lomneth