Forty-five University of Rhode Island students saddled up for a line dancing event in the Memorial Union Ballroom on Monday, Nov. 25th.
The event was put on by the Office of Student Involvement and line dance instructor Steve Dessert from Mishnock Barn who led students through several routines. Dessert demonstrated each section of a dance step-by-step, slowly putting the routine together for the line dancers to learn. Once the group was ready, the dance was put to music including selections from Bruno Mars, Nickelback and Shaboozy.
“We had Steve come from Mishnock two times last year, once in the fall, once in the spring and it was a hit,” said Juju Al-Amir, graduate assistant for Student Involvement.
Al-Amir used to go to Mishnock Barn with friends and reached out to Dessert to come to URI to host lessons for students.
“We picked this day to have something fun to do before Thanksgiving break and give some students an opportunity to get out of their rooms,” Al-Amir said.
Line dancing is a type of choreographed dance with several people repeating a sequence of steps in unions while all facing the same direction. The groups are typically arranged in rows, or lines, hence where the name derives from. It is often associated with country music but has crossed into several other genres, which was highlighted at Monday’s event.
For many students, this was their first time trying line dancing. Second-year student Dylan Safford said that he learned about the event from his friends and that it sounded like a lot of fun. He said that he never had done line dancing before, but enjoyed following along.
“This is a lot of fun, I’m very happy that we host stuff like this because it brings people together,” Stafford said.
This was also first-year student Arjya Aich’s first-time line dancing. As an international student from Bangladesh, he was first exposed to line dancing when he viewed the photos of the event preview on URInvolved.
“We don’t have this in my country and seeing the photos on the website impressed me so much, and coming here I was even more impressed,” Aich said.
Aich said that he enjoyed the interactive nature of line dancing and that it was quite different from dancing traditions in Bangladesh.
“The trainer was very engaging and he made us engage with each other, which was fun,” Aich said.
Dessert began line dancing with his wife and has been teaching with the Mishnock Barn since 2018. Dessert said he likes to bring people together through music.
“With music and dancing in the atmosphere, the people you get to meet and the friendships you make are great,” Dessert said.
The Mishnock Barn is located in West Greenwich, about a 30-minute drive from URI’s Kingston Campus. Mishnock Barn offers beginner lessons on Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday nights at 7:30 p.m. and standard lessons on Saturdays and Sundays at 8 p.m.
“It’s a nice atmosphere to come and have a good time,” Dessert said.
For more information about events put on by the Office of Student Involvement, visit their event website . For more information about Mishnock Barn visit their website .