Sibley Ballroom

By Joseph Dill

Hello, I'm Joe and along with my friend Dillon we have what sounds like an unlikely, yet awesome story. Last spring, my friend Dillon approached me, and asked if I wanted to help him start a ballroom dance club at our school, Henry Sibley High School. Up until that point, my cumulative exposure to ballroom dancing was six lessons at Cinema Ballroom with my family. It was my dad's idea of a birthday present for my mom. Make the whole family go learn to dance "old people style". Although I had fun at the lessons, they weren't anything I took seriously, and I wasn't planning to continue learning once our lessons were over.

However, Dillon had found out about this, although I have no clue how, which made me his top candidate to help start the club. When he proposed the idea, my first thought was, "This will never actually happen". However, Dillon is the kind of guy that everybody loves, so my second thought was, "Dillon is so pumped up about this, I can't tell him no". So, I promised Dillon my support, and then promptly forgot about it.

Fast forward a couple of months, and I get a text from Dillon, "Hey Joe, do you have time to meet with me to discuss details for the ballroom dance club?" I was a little surprised, because this was the first time I had thought about the club in a couple months, but told Dillon I could meet with him. I was even more surprised during my meeting with Dillon. While I had done nothing over the summer, Dillon had done some planning. He informed me that his brother was a member of the University of Minnesota Ballroom Dance Club and Competition Team, and he could help get us lined up with an instructor. I began to realize that Dillon was serious about this club, and that it might actually come together.

Fast forward to today, and after a lot of work on Dillon's part, and next to nothing on mine, we have a ballroom dance club at our school! We have an instructor, Kate Bratt, who comes for about an hour every week, and teaches us the basics of one or two different styles. Our fledgling club has roughly twenty members, a surprise to me as I originally thought there would only be two. In addition, we have a blast! Our club is sponsored this year, and next by U Partner Dance, so membership is free, which is a huge bonus for high school students who are generally broke! We are thankful for this sponsorship because there is no monetary constraint preventing those interested from joining the club, and anyone at school is able to learn about ballroom dancing. In the future, we are hoping to find other organizations willing to sponsor our group so that we can make ballroom dance a tradition at Henry Sibley.

It's been enjoyable to see something started as a random idea from a kid at school turn into something I plan for every Thursday after school. Something I thought wouldn't happen and I didn't want to be a part of, has turned into a club that I am proud to be a part of. There is a lot of of support, and excitement about ballroom dance at our school, and I'm excited to see it grow in future years.