In the crisp evening hours, jazz and big band music from decades past swelled onto the back patio of the Information and Computer Science building at UC Irvine. The music bellowed from a small speaker where about 20 Anteaters gathered to learn and practice swing dance at their weekly club meeting on April 14.
Among the myriad of dance clubs at UCI, Swing Dance stands out. They’re not a hip-hop dance club, nor a cultural one. They do not require auditions because they’re open to all skill levels. The welcoming, carefree ethos bleeds into the attitude of the dancers, as they seamlessly improvise their moves.
Third-year urban studies major Mariana Yamamoto described the art of swing dancing as its own language.
“The way I think about it — which is a bit obnoxious — is like we’re teaching everyone a language, and then on the dance floor everyone can go speak the language with other people,” Yamamoto told New University.
The language Yamamoto speaks of consists of the core, duet moves in swing dancing. This style of dancing is almost exclusively partner-based, meaning two people will dance: a lead
and a follow. Leads smoothly maneuver the dance floor as they guide the follows to pick up on their cues and improvise spins, kicks and other moves. In order to successfully improvise — which is the norm for these dancers — one must first learn certain patterns.
At Tuesday’s meeting, mechanical engineering major Jordan Hernandez and software engineering major Gilbert Fernandez taught students tuck turn variations. These variations are six or eight-count moves where the lead tucks the follow and guides them into a turn that then shifts into other moves. These moves can be applied to swing dance styles like lindy hop, west coast swing, east coast swing and more.
Third-year informatics major and club president Ted Khayyal agreed with Yamamoto’s language comparison.
“It also conveys the regional differences,” Khayyal told New University. “There’s accents, because we’ll do swing exchanges. [In] winter quarter we drove up to [UC] Davis for their Swing Exchange. We brought like, 20 of us, but it’s fun learning the different repertoires that different swing dance communities have. It’s still the same dance, but the moves that they tend to go for, they can be a lot different than moves we tend to go for.”
Attending other universities’ events are just one off-campus facet of the club. Board members also regularly attend lessons at ATOMIC Ballroom, an Irvine dance studio that teaches and preserves styles of dancing like swing, ballroom, tango, salsa, belly dancing and more.
Along with passing down moves from past members, it’s at the ballroom where board members learn new dance steps to teach other students. With a student discount, the Anteaters shuffle into the studio to learn from masters of the craft. The ATOMIC teachers help preserve swing dancing as a whole.
At ATOMIC Ballroom, the style of Balboa dancing is prominently featured for it’s distinct Orange County style of swing dancing that originated locally in the Balboa Peninsula.
Like ATOMIC, the Swing Dance club values history and tradition. According to a 2011 New University article, the club has existed for 18 years. With each graduating board, standards and rules are bound to change, so the club has been through many phases throughout the years. The pandemic forced students online, so board members taught dance moves virtually. Though the community connection was harder to maintain, the club persevered.
Today, club members focus on both dance and community. Just like a partner dance, the two go hand in hand.
Joshua Kidwell, an Irvine resident, regularly attends meetings despite not being a UCI student. As a friend of the former president, Kidwell found a community in the chill nature of the club.
“It’s really low pressure,” Kidwell told New University. “I guess it’s like, it’s the way to dance without strict competition and intense movement.”
Reed, the former president and a recent UCI graduate, also continues attending meetings, committing herself to swing dance and the community the club has created.
“You’re doing it for fun, not for show,” Reed told New University. “It’s for you. You don’t really care how it looks, unless you’re competing. But none of us really compete that much. So it’s more just like getting to know people hanging out and yeah, listening to good music while you dance.”
Swing Dance at UCI will attend another dance exchange, this time at California Polytechnic State University from April 24-26. For more information, students who are interested can attend the club’s weekly Tuesday meetings, join their Discord or follow their Instagram for updates.
Cassandra Nava is a 2025-2026 Layout Editor. She can be reached at cassan2@uci.edu.
Edited by Ennes Kahf
