A Class You Must Take While at USC
By Malcolm F.
One of the great things about USC is that it offers outstanding opportunities and classes taught by some of the world's greatest professors. I have been very fortunate to have had professors within my major who have worked at some of the most well-known companies in the world and for very famous individuals like the Menendez Brothers. While the goal is to fulfill your major requirements along with general electives, USC has some classes that you must take before you cross the stage on commencement day. You should definitely keep your eyes on the prize, but along with taking hard classes such as Organic Chemistry or Statistics, you should also follow your passion and pick a class you enjoy and can use to blow off some steam.
Don’t get me wrong, I have always loved school and have always loved learning, but as I am getting more into my major classes and am building up anxiety about my next steps, I have found it so important to find classes that make me forget about long days for at least two to three hours a week. As students, we have to find safe spaces within classrooms and remember that school should and can be fun and beneficial to our mental health. The more we prioritize our health and treat ourselves to a fun class every semester, the faster time goes by when taking those hard, brain-frying classes.
The class that I decided to take this semester that I recommend everyone should take is DANC-188A: International Style Ballroom Dance with Jesus Fuentes. Jesus, aka Jay, is not only an amazing and fun person to learn from about dance and its history, but he also brings so much of his own experience to the class. With over 30 years of teaching at USC, Fuentes has been featured in famous Blockbuster movies such as Dirty Dancing and Newsies for his talent and passion as a performance artist. Jay is the one who really makes the class special from the moment he walks through the door and turns on the music, encouraging us to enjoy the dance we are learning instead of seeing it as something we should make perfect.
If you have any experience or have always wanted to learn the following dance styles, such as Salsa, ballroom, swing, tango, or anything that you might feel intimidated by, this is the class for you. As someone who grew up in New Orleans, Louisiana, where some of the main dance styles include line dancing, second lining, and more traditional southern styles, I have always been interested in salsa dancing. I knew a few moves for ballroom dancing from my cotillion practice, but never perfected them enough to do them in public outside the ballroom in a tuxedo.
One of the things I love about classes like these is the opportunity to meet so many people from different majors who share the same passion for learning dance and for blowing off some steam from their other academic endeavors. I had the opportunity to meet so many new people, and since the class was only eleven people, we became very close and learned a lot about each other. From other Annenberg Major students, aka “AnnenBaddies,” and even some students from Pre-Med backgrounds, along with some more great areas of study that make USC so unique.
If you are looking for a space to meet new people and enjoy yourself, Danc-188A is the place for you. There is nothing like bonding with a group of people and dancing with them while learning values such as trust and becoming a much stronger person on the dance floor. We were even given unique opportunities, such as a combined class with some freshman dance majors, where we had fun learning to Salsa dance. Little things like that, after cramming for a hard calculus test, can really help you blow off some steam and make your life so much easier while in college.
Did I mention that there are dress-up days in class? You might be thinking of costumes, and yes, if you do take this class in the fall, you will have a day to dress in your best Halloween costumes. When I say dress up days, I mean you come to class as if you were going salsa dancing or for a night out on the town dancing. Think about how you would dress if you decided to take someone on a date to a nice club. You would put on your nice button-down shirt, some slacks, and comfortable shoes to help salsa the night away. You also want to make sure that your partner is wearing proper attire, such as a nice dress and heels, to make the moment feel as real as possible.
Just some advice for you, once your friends hear that you are in a dance class, they are going to bug you about videos to see how you look in class. If they’re truly invested in your experience, they will ask about opportunities to see you perform. Here’s some good news for both parties: there is an opportunity to show the world what you’re working with on the dance floor and the chance to invite all of your friends and family to the Kaufman Elective Experience. This performance takes place at the end of every semester, when all the elective classes in Kaufman come together to put on a show for friends and family.
My class recently completed the elective experience, and to go along with the season, Jay came up with the amazing idea for us to perform a Christmas Salsa. It was one of the greatest experiences of my life, not only preparing for the performance in front of so many people, but also the opportunity to show what I had learned and how much I had grown as a dancer. After you take this class and fall completely in love with the concept of taking a class that literally requires you to dance, you will have the opportunity to go on to the next level, which is Danc-188B and learn some much more advanced techniques to impress your friends and family with at your next get-together. I have added it to my course plan to take before I leave USC.
In conclusion, as someone who loves to dance but is not very comfortable unless I have perfected the dance, this class changed my entire mindset about dance. Jay, along with his amazing TA Kaeley, and my entire class, who cheered me on from the beginning to the end. I will definitely miss this class, but it is time to get back to the grind. I recommend you get your dance shoes ready and start practicing your best Salsa moves, because you are gonna want to out-salsa everyone. Make it a point to take this class or even attend some of the amazing performances that the USC Glorya Kaufman School of Dance has to offer.
