Social Dance at UT Austin

The Teaching Team

	Nick Enge has been dancing for 20 years, at first on stage, and later, socially. After falling in love with social dancing, he co-authored a book with Richard Powers entitled Waltzing: A Manual for Dancing and Living. When not dancing, you can find him searching for the next greatest dance move in his collection of several thousand dance manuals.
	Melissa Enge has been dancing since the age of three, in a wide variety of styles including ballet, jazz, tap, Indian fusion, and social dancing. Before coming to UT, she spent five years partnering the social dance classes taught by Richard Powers at Stanford University. When not dancing, you can find her choreographing people in a different way as a technical program manager at Indeed.
	Aimery Methena is a senior computer science major. His favorite dance styles are west coast swing and nightclub. He loves social dance because it's a great way to easily get to meet a bunch of people and have fun.
	Amber Williams is a sophomore journalism major. Her favorite dance styles are swing and waltz. She loves social dancing because she loves laughing with her dance partners when they mess up their steps but sticking with it long enough to make progress. The positive vibe here is pretty special. It turns dancing into something everyone can do and enjoy.
	Audrey Hsien is a masters student in business analytics. Her favorite dance style is west coast swing. The reasons she loves social dance are as endless as the turns in rotary waltz. lol. From learning the limitless types of dances to connecting with the amazing social dance community, the constant push outside my comfort zone excites me. Through dance, she has met incredible people. People who come from diverse backgrounds and have all found a shared passion for social dance. People who are the reason she continues to love and learn social dance. <3
	Calista Hemarga is a senior human development & family sciences major. Her favorite dance styles are east coast swing and two step. She loves social dance because it's such a great way to destress and provides lifelong skills to continue improving on! Social dancing is all about having a good time, and she loves how spontaneous you can be with it. Anyone can learn to social dance even without prior dance experience, which makes it a really fun activity to do with any of her friends, too. It also provides a unique opportunity to meet new people in a casual setting, and the energy is truly unmatchable! Social dance has been her favorite class she's taken at UT, and she can't wait to learn new moves to dance with everyone next semester!
	Campbell Kramer is a sophomore astronomy major. She loves a good rotary waltz, east coast swing, and tango, but as long as she has a good partner, the style of dance doesn't really matter! She loves social dance because it allows her to expand her artistic résumé and travel the world through dance. Outside of social dancing, some of her favorite dance memories have been learning Broadway choreography, performing Snow Queen and Dewdrop in "The Nutcracker," and going to a Texas Ballet Theatre summer program.
	Chirag Sakhuja is a fifth year PhD student in electrical and computer engineering. His favorite dance style is west coast swing. He loves social dance because it gives you the chance to connect with a dance partner in a way that words can't always. Whether the dance is with a stranger who you never talk to again or with a significant other, each one is a unique and creative moment that can surprise you!
	Jack Lenhard is a senior exercise science major. His favorite dance style is cross-step waltz. He loves social dance because it's a creative outlet for him to have fun with friends. He also loves to help other people find a passion for dancing! Remember that social dance means just what it is—social. So have fun with it, make mistakes, laugh it off, and enjoy learning!
	JC Mayo is a senior human biology and kinesiology major. Her favorite dance styles are fusion, west coast swing, and bachata. She loves social dancing because she finds that dancing is a fun way to indulge and expand her creative side! It also acts as a great icebreaker and she loves meeting new people. Learning more about the complexities and strength in nonverbal communication and how that translates in such an enjoyable way is also super interesting to her.
	Jason Math is a masters student in electrical and computer engineering. His favorite dance style is west coast swing. He loves social dance because it lets me have fun collaborating with high-quality people to create beautiful technical and creative moments.
	Kennedy Lightfoot is a senior exercise science major. Her favorite dance styles are country two step and west coast swing. She loves social dancing because it combines her love of movement, creativity, and connection! Playing with the moves, music, and partnership, each dance is an opportunity to discover something new.
	Lilly Tian is a senior computer science major. Her favorite dance styles are cross-step waltz and west coast swing. She loves social dance because it gives her the opportunity to meet great people and be creative!
	Reed Zimmermann is a masters student in computer science. His favorite dance style is west coast swing. He loves social dance because it's a great way to meet people and build confidence!
	Rianna Godula is a junior human biology major. Her favorite dance styles are west coast swing and salsa. She loves social dance because she loves the spontaneity of dancing with a partner. It's an exhilarating and amazing feeling because there is an endless amount of things we can do and an endless amount of songs to dance to. She love the friends she has made in social dance and the confidence it has given her to try out new things.
	Ryan Chen is a senior biomedical engineering major. His favorite dance styles are west coast swing and tango. He loves social dance because of its conversational and innovative nature. Social dancers are able to express themselves as individuals through their unique styles and as partnered pairs by creating shapes and forms to the music together. He loves the people he has met through social dance as well as the wonderful instructors who have given him something to look forward to every Tuesday and Thursday!
	Shannon Chao is a junior biology major. Her favorite dance style is cross-step waltz. She loves social dance because it's such a free-form style of dance where in multiple styles of dance, you have the opportunity to add your own flair or style. Additionally, there is no right or wrong movements in social dance—there are only innovations.
	Tran Banh is a third year biology major. Her favorite dance styles are rotary waltz, cross step waltz, and nightclub (but all are fun in their own way). She loves social dancing because it's a lot of fun getting to learn and try new things with others and is also a great way to destress from school. The community is really nice, so you get to meet a lot of people and make great friends.
	Uriel Gavito is a senior radio, television and film major. His favorite dance styles are fusion and tango. He loves social dance because it is when two different inner expressions merge into one outward expression. It is a beautiful thing where you can forget all problems and fall into the bliss of moving to music. And he's found that by dancing out your inner expression, you can heal your inner-self. As improvement in dance signifies improvement in self-love, confidence and awareness.
	Wesley Liu is a junior electrical and computer engineering and music major. His favorite dance styles are west coast swing and cross-step waltz. He loves social dance because he loves being able to meet and connect with new people, in addition to learning new moves and incorporating them into his practice. He loves how every partner and every dance is different. Social dance offers so much freedom to experiment, try new things, and express ourselves.