GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. — There’s a fun swing dance company right here in Grand Rapids. They just became regional champs and in order to join, all you have to do is ask.
Scott Herdegen is a co-captain of the Rapid Rhythms. He told 13 ON YOUR SIDE, “I’ve been dancing a very long time. Two, three years old dancing in front of the TV to old musicals.”
However, there’s no experience needed to join the team.
“I grew up not dancing,” said Sarah Beth McLellan, another co-captain.
“We see this more as a social gathering with an intent to learn the dance,” said Herdegen.
McLellan explains that they’re “just there to have a good time, do something different, push people’s boundaries and see what we come up with.”
“You come in and we want you to be friends, first off. Do you need to be good at the dance? Do you even need to know the dance? No,” said Herdegen.
All in fun, they’ve been competing the last six years.
“Never in it to win. Never in it to make like the choreo that’s really difficult,” said McLellan.
She said they “took fourth place that first year having only danced for like maybe six months at that point.”
They kept at it. The last weekend of February, they won the Battle of the Swing Cities competition in the Dayton Swing Smackdown. They were competing against groups from the U.S. and Canada and took home first place despite the tough competition.
“Other teams, they do auditions where they’re looking for the best of the best in their group and that’s great. They put on really great shows. Encourage that too, but the way that we run things is if you submit an audition tape, just the fact that you’re committed enough to do that, we’ll work with it,” said McLellan.
They meet every Monday night offering lessons and practice. All levels of experience are welcome. All they ask is that you’re vaccinated for COVID-19.
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