The Cowboy Country Swing Club (CCSC) has moved its lessons to online videos and live events. The club started a tik tok and now hosts live events on Facebook and Youtube every other Thursday.
“If anybody wants to get the true UW cowboy spirit they should look into swing dancing,” said Brandon Bartush, a construction management major who joined CCSC last fall.
CCSC has provided swing dance lessons for all levels of experience through multiple platforms.
Each lesson is divided into 15 minute segments. Each segment is a different skill level that includes beginner, intermediate, intro to lifts, advanced, and the level is called spit and polish.
During live events messages are open for any questions for the instructors.
Kylie Anderson, political science major and public relations and honors minors, has been an instructor for CCSC for three years and is currently the vice president of the club.
“I recommend finding a partner who wants to try out swing dancing as well and checking out the Facebook page,” said Anderson.
Similar to Anderson’s recommendation, many students create small groups for the lessons.
“I have a couple friends that I’ll meet up with at a park to watch the video and practice,” said Bartush. “Anything to do in person swing dancing I would completely support that.”
Bailey Vogler, a communication major and instructor for CCSC, said on normal days when the club operated there were 200 people every Thursday night.
“Usually non-COVID times we advertise and word of mouth gets around,” said Bailey Vogler, an instructor for CCSC who is a communication major. “It’s really sad that we don’t get to do it this year. My favorite part was incoming freshmen, even people who don’t like dancing or just want to hang out.”
Attendance has been lower this year, but graduated students such as Jake Disney are still watching the videos CCSC provides.
“I came in as a junior and not a freshman, getting in there and having the person to person has an impact that gets the next round of people involved,” said Disney who graduated last spring in rangeland ecology and watershed management.
Disney said he does not have a club or group for swing dancing on his own, but he still references the videos for practice.
CCSC is the largest student organization at the University in Wyoming. It has 350 to 400 members and 37 instructors. Currently only 10 instructors are active.
In 2015 the club received a Guinness World Record for having the most people in a single room. The record was set at 1,184 people.
