Collegiate Times

Dance is our Poison practices at the Weight Club.

When it comes to movement, one Virginia Tech dance crew holds nothing back. 

Dancing’s Our Poison, a group that has had a steadily increasing presence on campus for the past few years since it was formed four years ago, seeks to spread its dancing fever to others who want to bust a move.

The group began with three students who wanted to pursue their passion for dance informally by learning dance choreography and practicing together in their free time — interestingly, they never set out to start an organization at all.

As the students progressed and gained a deeper passion, they noticed the lack of opportunity for dancers around the Blacksburg community, which motivated them to look within themselves to find the solution.

Their solution was Dancing’s Our Poison, which hosted free weekly dance workshops as a means of enhancing Blacksburg’s dance culture by providing fun opportunities for the entire community. The workshops not only taught various dance techniques primarily used in hip-hop dancing, but also blended them together into unique choreography.

Since its inception, Dancing’s Our Poison has held true to its original foundational values and continued to gain more exposure for their popular dance workshops. The group currently has 14 members with two co-directors — Tim Reyes, a senior electro-engineering major, and Jaime Milo, a junior psychology and human development major.

Although the group has grown a lot, it remains an unofficial Tech organization. While becoming an official organization has been a topic of discussion for some time, Reyes said remaining unofficial has helped them form their own identity, outside the confines of the university.

Despite its recent growth and recognition, Dancing’s Our Poison has remained faithful to its original goal of serving the community while attempting to build upon its foundation of offering interesting, new opportunities.

“Our main goals as an organization are to build up the dance community and to give back to the community,” Reyes said.

Dancing’s Our Poison has worked recently to bring more professional dancers to Blacksburg. Last spring, the crew brought Swagger Crew, a hit group from “America’s Best Dance Crew,” twice to offer professional choreography.

While special workshops such as this may normally cost up to $20, Dancing’s Our Poison offered them for only $2 as a way to, yet again, make these dance opportunities available to anyone who is interested. They plan to bring more professional dancers around this year, following the success from last year’s workshops.

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A version of this article appeared in the Sep 30 issue of the Collegiate Times.