The MIT Ballroom Dance team hosted their annual ballroom competition on April 27 & 28. Nearly 1,000 dancers competed for scholarships and trophies. Competitors and spectators were also treated to breathtaking showcase by 2011 WDSF World Professional Standard Champions Paolo Bosco & Joanne Clifton.

See pictures of the show and competition on Boston.com!

And a picture of the show couple was featured on the front page of the MIT student news paper The Tech.

Check out the article about our team of dancing engineers on the MITnews website!

Twenty-six MITBDT rookies participated in the Harvard Crimson Syllabus Challenge last weekend, their first ever ballroom competition after several weeks of intense dance training and preparation. Held at the Cambridge Rindge and Latin School, the well-organized competition featured Newcomer as well as syllabus events for all four competitive dance styles.
Countless hours of hard work paid off for our rookies, with MITBDT couples claiming four out of eight spots in the International Rumba and Waltz events, five out of seven in American Swing and the top six out of seven finalists in the American Foxtrot. MITBDT also featured a number of finalists in Bronze, Silver, Gold and the Master of Syllabus events across all styles.

In the traditional team match where each rookie is paired up with a veteran team member to dance either Swing, Foxtrot, Hustle, Salsa or Polka, MITBDT took the top four places in the final. A strong performance by all dancers, and successful season start for MITBDT!

Team match winners pose proudly with their ribbons.

MITBDT members at the Crimson Syllabus Challenge 2012.
Photos by Ron Hoffmann

Read about the 2012 Dance Concert in MIT’s student newspaper, The Tech!

By Noelle Sun

Seven MIT couples attended USA Dance Nationals on March 30 and April 1 in Baltimore, MD.

Friday morning the team was headed off to a great start with Hila Hashemi and Tiago Souza placing 2nd in Bronze Latin and 1st in Silver Latin. Way to go Hila and Tiago!

The Smooth contingency of the team also pulled a great performance, showing the nation that MITBDT is rapidly becoming much stronger in this style. Theresa Vallese and Matt Sorrentino placed 5th in Gold Smooth and were top of the Novice semi-final; Herman Versteeg and Alice Wang placed 1st in Gold and 5th in Novice Smooth.
Representing the finest of our team’s open Smooth, Lihua Bai and Jeff McCollum finished at the top of the Pre-champ Smooth semi-final.

Four couples competed in the standard events. Doubling up in two styles, Theresa Vallese and Matt Sorrentino made quarterfinals in Novice Standard. Xiaojuan Khoo and Alex Arazawa ended their season together on a high note, placing 5th in Novice Standard and making quarterfinals in Pre-champ Standard. Mandi Davis and Ryan Taliaferro placed near the top of the Pre-champ quarterfinal, and Ben Moss and Noelle Sun danced in the quarterfinals of Championship Standard.

The 2012 MIT Open Ballroom Dance Competition, held last weekend March 17&18, is in the local news! Check out the picture in MIT’s student newspaper, The Tech and the Boston Globe!
For more information about the competition visit the competition website.