Some are experienced dancers, others beginners, but they are all smiling and laughing and dancing together. Oberlin's swing scene has come a long way in a short time. When Karpf arrived at Oberlin in the fall of 1997, he met a group of about a dozen people who held informal swing dances in the basements of Noah and Burton and decided to give it a try. I've always liked the image of it. Ballroom is a scary social dance.
Salsa is more difficult to pick up.
But once you learn the basic swing step, you can watch people and make up moves. A dance was held during the fall 1998 orientation, and Joshua Hartshorne '01, president of the Oberlin Swing Society, was one of the first-year students there who became hooked on swing. Wishing to secure more appropriate dance spaces, with real sound systems rather than personal boom boxes, Hartshorne organized the first meeting of what would become the Oberlin Swing Society that October. The following spring, he and other dedicated swing dancers submitted a charter proposal in order to become an officially recognized student organization. Difficulties finding space in the fall of 1999 tested the group's determination, but the Swing Society did not give up.