College Dancing and Access: 2/27/25

When I was in college, I could take 3 hours of class every week for $25 each academic quarter through our Recreation Department: that meant I could take Jazz, Modern, or Ballet for a fraction of what class would cost at a local studio.

Ballroom Club and Tango Club membership dues were equally modest— let’s not even get into the fact that my college had both of these things. Our local tango practica was just a bus ride away (free with student ID) and only cost $2.

All of this meant that I got a huge leg up on the average adult hobbyist getting into dance— not just because I started younger, but because I had so much access to resources and a thriving community of passionate dancers to develop with.

On top of that, I had mentors who gave me my first jobs in dance straight out of college— teaching the very same Recreation Department classes I had enjoyed over the last several years.

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But what do you do when you don’t have regular group classes in your area? Or there are no local pros to guide you? How do you get to class when you are the one teaching class?

And while the internet has done a lot to fill in the gaps and give people across the world access to dance, there still isn’t anything quite like sharing space and building community with people you can actually see in person.