The Purdue Ballroom Dance Club is a university organization that promotes the sport of ballroom dancing. Our club is open to all university affiliates as well as members of the local community. We offer multiple weekly group classes for beginner, intermediate, and advanced dancers in social and competitive ballroom dancing. it is not necessary to bring a partner to these classes, and no prior dance skill is required to start in the beginner classes.

The classes cover a variety of dances each semester. The basic "Standard" style dances include Waltz, Tango, Foxtrot, Quickstep, and Viennese Waltz. These are dances where the dancers move around the room and have a "smooth/flowing" feel, or a "sharp and driven" feel depending upon the style of the dance.

The basic "Latin" style dances include the Cha-Cha, Samba, Rumba, Paso-Doble, and Jive. In these dances, the dancers have more body-action, focusing on twisting, leg lines, and hip-action. The Jive(Swing) is a dance derived from the American Big Band and early Rock-and-Roll eras, while the Cha-Cha, Samba, and Rumba are Latin-American dances. Other Latin dances that we cover briefly include the Mambo, Bolero.

Finally, we learn a few fun night-club dances, Hustle, Salsa, Merengue, Lindy, Polka.

Besides providing lesson and practice times, our club also holds social dances on a regular basis.

In addition to social dancing, we also have a ballroom dance competition team. The competition team has separate practices where competition style dancing is taught. Our team attends several in-state and out-of-state competitions each semester. Besides representing Purdue University at intercollegiate competitions, the team also performs dance routines for local community groups and events.

Those of us in the Purdue Ballroom Dance Club would like to extend an invitation to anyone who is interested in experiencing the joy and beauty of dancing.