Spinning skirts, counting beats and the lilt of jazz. Now rotate partners. Quickstep, Saturday best and the sun has set. Now dip her. This was, in fact, not a flashy weekend in the 1940s.

Hamline’s first dance of the school year swung in, and out, with style. The Bush Center Ballroom on Saturday’s Swing Out held quite the crowd- “over 200 people,” said Katie Bossert, Vice President of Hamline University’s Swing Dance Club. Students from six universities (Hamline, St. Kate’s, St. Olaf, St. Thomas, Bethel and the University of Minnesota) came, swung, pooled their funds, and made the night what Bossert called a “huge success.”

According to Hamline’s Swing Dance Club President, Amy Sherren, every individual club typically “only [has] enough money for one dance a year.”

They realized that the right planning could change that. Stemming from an idea from St. Kate’s club President, Sherren thought, “wouldn’t it be cool if we could put all our funds together so clubs could have more than one dance a year.” The clubs worked together and succeeded in actualizing the excitingly collaborative event.

As far as they know, “it’s the first time something like this [happened]” and Sherren, along with many others, think it turned out “fantastically.”

For four hours following the open one hour long swing dancing lesson, the music and the swinging continued into the night. The Swing Out was a FYSEM throwdown event at Hamline University and attracted an enthusiastic group of Hamline freshman. Ergo, although many students had the advantage of swing experience on the dance floor, everyone, at any level of expertise, was welcome. The crowd could have scanned the room and seen the East Coast swing next to the Lindy Hop next to those doing jazz hands by the refreshment table. The Bush Ballroom balcony, featuring string lights and an evening breeze, subsequently seemed to serve as the area designated for cool down, conversation and selfie taking. The popular opinion about Saturday’s Swing Out gave the impression of being echoed by Hamline first years Kayla Shappel and Isaac Fagerstrom.

“I am loving this,” Shappel said.

Fagerstrom agreed.

“I feel classy as heck,” he said.

Students were able to dress up, learn something new and meet fellow swing dance enthusiasts.

Smooth moves, jump blues and One and Two. Now ask him to dance. Red lipstick and improvisation, but it’s rhythmic. Now don’t forget to come back. This was, in fact, the first Swing Out of 2015.Kalli WilsonKalli Wilson