169 FRESHMEN Swing dancing grew in popularity across Harding’s campus in fall 2022. It started as a small gettogether within a group of freshmen but quickly grew to a large event that encompassed all classifications of students. Freshman Colby Covalt shared the unconventional story of how swing dancing became a campus activity. “Myself, Denver Mitchell and Corban Cherry were watching Braveheart in their room,” Covalt said. “In that moment I was thinking that if I ever go to a formal, am I going to remember how to do swing dancing? So, I told them to pause the movie, and I taught them how to swing dance right then and there. Then the three of us went out on the front lawn that night with a speaker, played some music and danced. A couple of people walked by and danced. I think we had about six people that first night. Then the second night: 15, 20, 50. We peaked at close to 100 people.” Word of these swing dancing freshmen quickly spread across campus. Covalt talked about how this garnered so much attention rapidly. “At first I thought it’d just be a small thing,” Covalt said. “Through word of mouth it kind of spread like wildfire. Corban put up a couple of papers, but not many at all. We had no idea it would amount to what it did, and we certainly didn’t have a lot of advertisement other than by word of mouth.” The first nightly swing dancing sessions started towards the end of September, while freshmen were still ... and a spin A group of freshmen begin swing dancing together in the fall 2022 semester. ROUND AND ROUND Two students show off their swing dance moves on the front lawn. Students without swing dancing experiences learned by watching others. Photo by: Julianne Baker settling into college life. Freshman Denver Mitchell, one of the first campus swing dancers, talked about how this was an opportunity to get freshmen involved in something on campus. “It’s a great way to get to know people,” Mitchell said. “It’s uncomfortable at first. You have to ask someone to dance or teach someone to dance, but it’s a great way to get connected because you are doing the same activity with someone that you may have never met before. You grow and build relationships from that experience, so it’s just a great group activity.” At first, mainly freshmen were participating in the swing dancing sessions, but soon people of all classifications were participating. Once junior Clayton Roach heard about swing dancing, he just had to give it a try. “I think it does a great job of instilling community on campus,” Roach said. “It’s pretty out of the ordinary to see 60-plus people on the front lawn dancing at 11:30 at night. It’s been cool to be a part of that and to meet new people. It’s really a good avenue to get out of your comfort zone and break that barrier of awkwardness. It is definitely something I look forward to some nights.” After initially swing dancing every night, Covalt and Mitchell decided to have swing dancing just one night a week on Tuesdays to avoid burnout and to attract larger crowds. They also created an Instagram page, @hu_countryswing, to increase outreach and keep the community updated on possible changes. Written by: Ethan Conn THREE SWINGS
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