Lou Pennacchia will dance anytime, anywhere. On Friday night, he changed his routine by going to South Campus to join students for a swing dance.

‘It’s been a blast,’ said Pennacchia, an East Syracuse resident. ‘There’s a lot of different music.’

Syracuse University’s Swing Club held its Winter Dance on Dec. 3 at the Inn Complete on South Campus. About 20 students from the dance club and 30 adults from the community and the Syracuse Swing Dance Society came out for the group’s first dance this semester.

Pennacchia frequently attends events with the Syracuse Swing Dance Society. He and his dancing partner, Sally Senecal of Eastwood, have each been dancing for almost 10 years. They agreed the dance was a unique opportunity for the students and community members and encouraged younger members to give dancing a try.

‘You don’t have to be the best dancer in the world,’ Senecal said.

The dance was one of the most attended events the SU Swing Club has put on, said Leanna Mulvihill, club president and a junior environmental research engineering major in the State University of New York College of Environmental Science and Forestry.

Though the group members usually only have the budget to do one dance a year, they were able to use the Inn Complete space for free, Mulvihill said. She hopes they will be able to hold another dance next semester. The Syracuse Swing Dance Society also used the event as a test of the space, as the group is considering moving weekly practices there, Mulvihill said. The group normally practices in North Syracuse, making it difficult for the students to dance with the Syracuse Swing Dance Society regularly.

The SU club practices every Tuesday from 7 to 8:30 p.m. in the exercise room on the first floor of Archbold Gymnasium. She encouraged other students to come out to the practices and dances.

‘You don’t need a partner, and you don’t need experience,’ Mulvihill said.

Dancing is therapeutic for SU engineering professor and swing dance club faculty adviser Can Isik. Isik, a member of the Syracuse Swing Dance Society, said dancing is a chance for him to relax. His favorite style of dance is West Coast Swing, which he said is a chance for both men and women to be creative in their dance styles.

Isik was a DJ Friday night and mixed newer hip-hop songs with rock ‘n’ roll and blues. Playing a variety of music is a way to please everybody, he said.

Having the more experienced dancers around the students Friday night was a chance for the students to learn, Isik said.

‘Everybody’s smiling, everybody’s having fun,’ Isik said.

Dave Biles, a junior advertising and geography major, watched people dance when he wasn’t dancing himself. He said the East Coast Triple Step is his favorite move.

Biles watched the older members of the crowd, who he said were more secure in their dancing style.

‘You can see all the different moves that people have,’ Biles said. Then Biles pointed out a member of the Syracuse Swing Dance Society who was dancing. ‘See this guy? He has a very definite style. He’s very fly.’

Pennacchia, who was there from the community to dance himself, said he enjoyed the change of dancing with a younger crowd.

‘It’s fun dancing with people who are learning,’ Pennacchia said. ‘They bring a lot of energy on the floor, and we bring the experience.’

dkmcbrid@syr.edu

Published on December 4, 2010 at 12:00 pm

Contact Dara: dkmcbrid@syr.edu | @daramcbride