By Kurtis Hiatt
It was payback that landed Lynsay Belshe on this year’s lineup for the second annual Dancing With GW.
Late last fall, Ms. Belshe, senior advisor to the executive vice president and treasurer, got an email from the student organization GW Ballroom asking her to participate in the event, which pairs faculty, student leaders and staff with GW Ballroom members for a dance competition.
How did they know who she was? Then it hit her: Her colleague Darrell Darnell, senior associate vice president for safety and security, headlined the event the year before.
“And I may have shown the video and presented him a disco trophy in a staff meeting,” she said, laughing.
She interrogated Mr. Darnell. Sure enough, he had nominated her.
It was a blessing in disguise. Ms. Belshe has been begging her husband for years to get her (and him) dance lessons for her birthday. And this year, her theme is “living outside of my comfort zone.”
Consider it done.
Ms. Belshe, who will dance the samba to Lady Gaga’s “Alejandro” (“If I go, I go big.”), has been practicing with partner Kevin Liu, a second-year law student, a couple of times per week since October.
“Just a few months ago, I had never danced the samba—or really danced that much, period,” she said. “If I look at where I came from, I’m really impressed with how much they could teach me in a short period of time.”
Another star this year, Nancy Haaga, managing director for Campus Support Services, is similarly inexperienced—unless you count her cheerleading and tap dancing as an 8-year-old, she said.
Ms. Haaga said learning the steps to the tango, to “Otra Noche en La Viruta” with partner Antonio Vargas, has been challenging.
“The entire experience has been more fun and more challenging than I would have realized,” she said. “It takes many repetitions to develop the memorization and muscle memory.”
The steps aren’t the only hard part, though. Adding the arms is an entirely new challenge.
“The most difficult part has been making sure my feet are doing what they are supposed to be doing, while also combining the arm movements and not looking at the floor,” said Nikki Buckholz, a coordinator for administration and Hallmark Programs who will dance the cha-cha to “Moves Like Jagger” with partner and sophomore Zachary Humayun.
Still, the participants agreed that the best part of the competition is that it allows them to get to know students in a different way.
“Dancing With GW has the ability to bring together administrators and students in a unique environment,” and has the potential to build long-lasting friendships, said Nicholas Hudson, coordinator of financial services in the Center for Student Engagement. Mr. Hudson will dance the rumba and samba to “California Dreamin’” and “Take Me to Rio” with partner Babette Perez. “It’s a great idea to have faculty and staff interact with students outside of the classroom or office.”
The Dancing With GW group also gets a lot out of this annual event.
“The team’s mission is to spread the love of ballroom dance throughout campus, and a public event like this is one of the best ways for us to do that,” said Mr. Humayun, the group’s publicity chair. “Dancing With GW is an expression of gratitude to the faculty who teach us, the staff who keep the school running behind the scenes, and the student leaders who work to better our GW experience.”
The next week of rehearsals will be crucial for the dancing teams, many of whom have family and friends to impress with their moves.
“I want to be able to do this dance in my sleep,” Ms. Belshe said. “I want my partner to hate our song because he’s heard it so much.”
Other stars participating this year include: Shahrokh Ahmadi, assistant research professor in the School of Engineering and Applied Science; Abby Bergren, Student Association vice president; Ashwin Narla, Student Association president; and George Rice, associate director of the Multicultural Student Services Center.
Dancing With GW is Feb. 26 at 7 p.m. at Lisner Auditorium. Admission is free.