On the second floor of IM Circle, collegiate teams met for the 11th annual Green and White Gala hosted by the MSU Ballroom Dance Team on Saturday. Dance couples were judged by a panel based on their unique dance styles and the technique they brought to the floor.
History sophomore and Vice-President of MSU Ballroom Dance Team Maxine Kaley said the competition features teams from dozens of colleges and universities’ dance teams on a collegiate and professional level.
“We have U of M, MSU, we have a few people from Purdue and then we have some people from Lake Superior State, which is up in Sault Ste. Marie,” Kaley said. “It's their first time coming, so we were very excited to have them.”
Kaley said other teams that are usually part of the annual competition include Ohio State University and Indiana University, among other universities within the Midwest.
The first half of the competition featured slow, smooth Latin dancing, Kaley said, with the second half featuring fast-paced styles like swing, the cha-cha, rumba and mamba, among others.
“People who are not really into dance, I recognize they can be a little bit boring, but the rhythm and the Latin is when you're like fast-paced and they're really upbeat solos, so it's just looking to have like a good atmosphere of fans here,” Kaley said.
One of the MSU Ballroom Dance Team's specialties is the collaboration of different styles of dance, Kaley said.
“We specialize in American-style dancing because there's American and international style,” Kaley said. “We just get together and you learn dances and you can compete if you want to but we don't force anyone to compete if they don't want to.”
University of Michigan Engineering and Sustainability master’s student Nate Hodgson, president of the UofM Ballroom Dance Team, said he and his team found the Green and White Gala to be a “wonderful opportunity."
“I think the MSU competition is always a wonderful competition and wonderful opportunity for everybody, especially in Michigan, but I know we have other people from Purdue, other people from the University of Waterloo in Canada to come together at the beginning of the semester to get ready for the other competitions for the end of the semester.”
