Diverse clubs give students an ability to express themselves
By Forest Lassman
flassman@jccc.edu
Swing Club
As a new semester starts, swing club steps up to teach about the classic dance. Swing dancing started in the 1920s, and is still being done today. There are many different forms of the dance, with the most popular being east and west coast swing. While east coast swing is very bouncy, west coast swing is smooth and linear.
Swing dancing can be used with almost any song on the radio, Rachel Georges, president of the club, said.
“It allows you to do slow dancing, where you’re really interpretive, or fast dancing where you have no time to really think about it. You’re just moving,” Georges said. “Dancing is a beautiful form of expression.”
Swing club encourages dancers of all skill levels to come.
“Everyone in this club is here to do the same thing, and because it can go from anywhere from beginner to advanced … It’s open to interpretation from the rest of the club members,” Georges said. During the course of each club meeting, Georges and the vice-president teach students new moves, walking everyone step-by-step through the dance, then letting them free to experiment and test out their new moves. The club meets every Tuesday from one to three.
Anime Club
The lights dim as Anime club starts to watch an episode of the show “Tsubasa Chronicles.”
Anime is the encompassing term for animation from Japan. Anime has been growing in America for decades, first gaining fame with mature films like “Akira” and “Ghost in the Shell,” and later winning the hearts of younger audiences with TV shows like “Attack on Titan,” “Naruto,” and “Pokemon.”
The anime club is based around the club members’ love for the animated medium. Each meeting starts with a discussion of news. Everything from the latest “Digimon” trailer to a blood drive sponsored by the vocaloid girl, “Hatsune
Miku,” are discussed during this part of the club.
Mary Kelly, the president of the club, loves the feeling of finding a new show or movie.
“[I’ll] get on the internet, I’ll go on my sites and there is something new there to interest me,” Kelly said. “It’s never dull.There is always something new.”
After all the news has been talked about, the club shifts to watching a few episodes of a show or movie. The club also occasionally has bigger events like pizza parties, swap meets and more.
The anime club meets every Monday and Friday from 3 p.m. to 6 p.m. The club also has an active Facebook page for discussing and planning events.
Yo-Yo Club
The yo-yo has been around for thousans of years, and continues to be used even in the modern age.
Kyle Hickey, the president of the yo-yo club, loves the object. Any moment he can, he fidgets around with the small device. He loves to test out different moves and mastering new tricks.
Yo-yos have two major forms: responsive and unresponsive. Responsive yo-yos come back and are easily returned. Unresponsive yo-yos don’t come back automatically, which while harder, gives the opportunity to perform more complex tricks.
For people wanting to learn the way of the yo-yo, Hickey recommends getting a quality yo-yo and practicing every day.
“[Learning how to yo-yo] is kind of like first learning to skate … The ollie [and] the jump, is like one of the first things you learn but then you tie that into so many more things later,” Hickey said. “It gets easier as you learn more.”
The yo-yo club meets every Monday from 2 p.m. to 3 p.m. People interested in the club can come in at any time, and Hickey has extra yo-yos for those who don’t have any yo-yos to practice with. The club also has a website where people can contact the club, check out the schedule, learn new tricks and more.
Website: http://www.oneaweekchallenge.com/index.php.