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Turf Talk: They like to… MOVE IT!


Birthdays usually entail the materialistic objects of desire. Freshman year was a birthday like none other for Megan Henriksen. No, she did not remember opening up boxes of the tangibles, but opening up her passion. Henriksen welcomed the world of swing dancing into her life.

“I fell in love,” says Henriksen, a graduate student in ASU’s biomedical engineering program. “I went there and the music and dancing itself is pretty fun.”

Henriksen is talking about the Swing Devils club she went to on her birthday. The club performs somewhat modernized dance to music from the 1930s and ‘40s. The style of dance primarily derives from the style from those decades, but the Swing Devils incorporate more aerials and what Henriksen calls an “element of being a badass.”

“I want to be as awesome as I can,” Henriksen says; she is now the president of the club. “Those (dance routines) take a while to perfect.”

Some songs performed can range from 200 to 300 beats per minute. According to Henriksen, swing is very athletic.

The Swing Devils are currently working on a routine to Disney’s Aladdin: “Friend Like Me.”

With this routine, the club will enter two competitions; one is in Iowa and other, the Intercollegiate Swing Battle is in Denver.

At these competitions, five couples (ten total dancers) compete. One rule of thumb the Swing Devils use is to pair up contrasting dancing skills and those who are similar size. Swing is very strength- and weight-dependent, Henriksen said.

To perfect the routine before the two competitions, the team practices a total of three hours every Monday night. Practice is essential to dance as uniformity is essential to winning.

The Swing Devils are in their second year competing and have yet to podium at any of their events. Henriksen gives the team a three-year development window before being able to consistently place top five in all of their competitions.

“It’s still so new,” Hendriksen says. “We just want to get together clean, well-executed routines. We’re going to get there.”

What is there is the social development. Danielle Jacobs, a biomedical engineering sophomore, sees this development taking place. She danced swing at Desert Vista High School.

“It’s helped me meet new people,” Jacobs says. “It’s a great way to develop your social skills.”

Henriksen and Jacobs met through Swing Devils. According to Jacobs, Henriksen’s a “cool cat.” This is exactly what Henriksen expects from her teammates.

Although the Swing Devils are new on the competitive end of swing dancing, they have always prided themselves on friendship and the social gain.

It’s “definitely something I’m not going to give up,” Henriksen says.

 

You can contact me at bcapria@asu.edu.


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