Twirl, stomp, kick, and shuffle to the sounds of ballet, jazz, hip-hop and tap. It might sound like the program for a dance revue at the CFA, but students looking to move their feet to a few of these styles themselves don't have to look further than a new club at UB: the Impulse Dance Force.
A non-competitive club open to everyone, Impulse Dance Force might be the new kid on the block, but it has seen its membership quickly jump to over 100 members who participate in both beginner and advanced sessions. The group currently offers classes in tap, jazz, ballet, hip-hop, lyrical, and modern dance.
Samantha Sorrentino, president of Impulse Dance Force, said despite the strong start, the group is still looking to get out the group's name to students and faculty with a number of performance and charity events in the coming months.
"The road to the creation of the Impulse Dance Force was not easy," said Sorrentino, a senior communication major. "It required a great deal of hard work and strong motivation to make the dream of having a non-competitive dance club at UB a reality."
Sorrentino said she has high hopes for the club, which still needs approval to become an official Student Association club.
"My hopes for this semester are that the members in the club all start to know each other better, and that we are able to show the community and school what we are all about," Sorrentino said. "I hope for a great turn out for our end-of-semester show. I can only hope that each year the club gets bigger and bigger, and that we have more and more dance classes offered to students."
Group organizers formed the club last semester because they felt there was a lack of dance opportunities at UB for non-dance majors. Sorrentino and students like Jaime Scheff, vice president of the club, were determined to change that and give students the option to dance at UB, even if it is not part of their studies.
"We wanted to give people the chance to dance throughout their college years," said Scheff, a sophomore business major. "We also wanted to make sure to give everyone the opportunity, not just people that dance a specific type. We wanted to offer everything."
To celebrate the club's first semester success, Impulse put on a show at the end of the fall semester called "Rhythm and Pulse." About 200 people attended the show, which gave the dancers a chance to show their friends, family and peers what they had learned, Scheff said.
"This club is student-run. All the choreographers for the dance classes are students," Scheff said. "Club officers, choreographers, and the dancers put in a lot of time, so having an end-of-the-semester performance is a great way to display all the effort put forth throughout the semester."
Within the next few years, Impulse Dance Force members said they hope to see a large number of students join the club to fulfill their passion for dancing.
"I would also like to see a lot of people that have wanted to try dancing but have never had the opportunity, because Impulse does just that," Scheff said. "That's one of the great parts of this club, it gives people the chance to dance at a level that suites them."
In only its second semester, Impulse Dance Force already has a busy schedule. This Saturday the group will hold a fundraiser at the Steer from 11 p.m. to 1 a.m. On April 5 the group has a charity concert for tsunami relief, and their end-of-semester show is scheduled for April 30 at the Center for the Arts.
"I had no idea what goes into starting a club. There is so much behind the scene that takes up a lot of time," Sorrentino said. "It's hard to know if a club is going to be successful, but thus far, I think things have gone very well."
