As the nation tunes into “Dancing with the Stars” every Tuesday around 8 p.m., Penn State’s own ballroom dancing stars rush home from practice to catch a glimpse of what they do on a collegiate level, on national television. Penn State’s Competitive Ballroom and Latin Dance Club, or informally known as Penn State Ballroom on socials, is a rather small club, but its personnel size doesn’t diminish its impact in the collegiate ballroom circuit.

The club focuses on two aspects, teaching and competing. Tuesdays from 6 p.m. to 8 p.m. are spent with their more experienced dancers — those who compete in bronze, silver, gold, or open. These dancers use Tuesday’s session to learn moves, hone their skills, and move up in the ranks.

However, those with no dancing experience are welcome to their lessons on Thursday at the same time in the same room, White Building 106. Club President, Trinity Mickens, has emphasized an arms-wide-open attitude for anyone who wants to dance. “We’re always willing to teach you because we genuinely want to share the love of dance and ballroom with people,” Mickens said. “[Thursday’s] kind of your moment to come and learn with us, it’s two hours fully dedicated to people who have never danced before”

The club has been open to teaching newcomers since this iteration of it was created in the early 2010s. However, Micken’s predecessors also made competition central to the club’s goals, and it holds to today. Throughout the semester, colleges on the East Coast host competitions and invite other schools’ ballroom dancing clubs to compete. Eligible dancers in Penn State’s club travel to these competitions that occur once or twice a month.

“Sometimes only a few people want to go on a certain weekend,” Mickens said. “It’s kind of free in a way that we can travel as a team or we can travel as individuals, groups, or pairs.”

The club will fund one competition weekend a semester. “It allows people to try it out, see how they like it, and then go from there,” the club president stated. “We don’t require people to compete, we’d like you to, but we know that’s not everybody’s forte.”

The ballroom dancing community is tight-knit, and Penn State is well known in it. They’re targeting early February for their own annual competition, the Penn State Snowball. The club has found success in the collegiate ballroom dancing scene, so much so that they were invited to compete at nationals last year.

“The collegiate crown is getting invited to nationals, you can win your category, but that’s the ceiling,” Mickens said. “We’re looking to make the Penn State Snowball a qualifier for nationals.”

With competition and teaching at the forefront of the club’s priorities, members spend a lot of time with each other, whether it be the hours spent in a car together or the pairing of leads and follows in a dance. This also allows relationships to be built easily amongst members, which is a favorable characteristic of the club.

Sometimes the members need time apart, but this year they’re building on a social scene outside of ballroom dancing activities.

“In the past we’ve done occasional movie nights, picnics, and bonfires,” Mickens said. “We’re looking forward to doing a lot more things with each other, since we have our group now.” But, Mickens still highlighted the club’s acceptance of newcomers into their group, “Unlike other dance clubs, we’re very open, we’re always here for you,” especially if you have two left feet.

The ballroom club has benefited in some ways from the rise of Dancing with the Stars, a celebrity ballroom dance show with professional partners. “It’s easier to say, ‘Do you want to be part of club ballroom? It’s like Dancing with the Stars.’ because people know what that is,” Mickens said. “It helps make that connection, we like to say we’re Dancing with the Stars, but better.” Unlike the celebrity show, Penn State’s ballroom is more traditional and has a wider variety.

This year’s club size may be lower than what it was pre-COVID-19, but the club’s outreach is growing.

“People are checking out our club, staying with us, and looking to have a good time,” Mickens said. “I’m excited to have people come and join us, and continue to grow.

“I believe we’re really continuing to grow, and I’m really happy with the progress that we’ve been making as a club.”

Looking ahead, the ballroom dancing club has a few competitions remaining in the semester, including a competition in the nation’s capital that it will travel to. The Penn State Snowball will be hosted at White Building on February 7th. Check out Penn State’s Competitive Ballroom and Latin Dance Club on Instagram and TikTok.