By Cait Heiderman
In a room full of cowboy boots and country music, Terps came together Sunday to let loose and line dance at Maryland Line Dancing’s Western-themed event.
The event, held in the Adele H. Stamp Student Union, brought students of all experience levels together to learn new dances and build community.
“It’s a great way to foster community, especially in the stressful times that it is being a college student,” junior finance and information systems major Carleigh Mahaney said.
Co-founders Ashley Patterson and Mahaney established Maryland Line Dancing, or MLD, as an official student organization in March. The pair created the organization as a project for a University Honors course last semester, with Patterson, a junior finance and management major, serving as president and Mahaney as treasurer.
Patterson said that MLD’s mission is to bring students together through line dancing and create a welcoming community, reduce stress and support physical and mental well-being.
“I’ve been dancing forever, but line dancing is something I’ve never really gotten into,” said Diana Lyons, a junior international relations and anthropology major who attended the event. “They make this very accessible for beginners, which I love.”
Each event starts with 30 minutes of dance instruction by students on the MLD organization board.
“You should expect two to three beginner dances taught at the beginning of the night, followed by open floor dancing,” Mahaney said. “You should expect a lot of fun and should expect to sweat.”
Mahaney led the instruction alongside Reagan Miller, who serves as vice president of events.
“It’s really fun to bring something that’s kind of niche and rural to an area that’s very urban,” Miller, a freshman biology and arts-dentistry major, said. “It’s fun to bring that culture here.”
Miller said MLD events are also a place to dance without the pressure of being in a space with alcohol.
“I love the separation of the dancing culture and the bar culture,” Miller said. “Everybody’s coming to genuinely learn and have fun.”
At MLD-hosted line dancing events, music from all types of genres is played to appeal to attendees who do not listen to country music.
“Even if you don’t listen to country music, you’re probably still gonna hear stuff that you hear on the radio,” Miller said.
One attendee, Sara Rawley, shared that MLD is a great way to get involved in something new.
“I wanted to try something new this year and this club seemed the most approachable to me,” Rawley, a junior psychology and management double major, said. “There’s no pressure to be perfect.”
Featured Image: Maryland Line Dancing Club’s Line Dancing Night in the Adele H. Stamp Student Union’s Prince George’s Room on Sept. 21. Photo by Charlotte Florin.