About Us
The Michigan Ballroom Dance Team was originally founded in the fall of 1997 to provide students with an opportunity to compete in intercollegiate ballroom dancing competitions. Since that time, it has transformed into a competitive team, a social organization, and an organization that serves the community. We are a competitive, collegiate ballroom dance team that seeks to share our love of dance by fostering a fun and supportive environment while striving for continuous improvement!
The team currently has around 150 active members, and has won the National Collegiate Championships at the Ohio Star Ball every year since 2005. We owe our success to Steve and Susan McFerran (our professional coaches), Jayme and Kenny Crabtree (providers of practice space), and the countless team members who have made contributions to the team.
The Ballroom Dance Team is a separate entity from the Ballroom Dance Club, which can be found here.
Team Structure
The team is made up of five different levels:
- A Team – The highest level of the team. Dancers usually compete at the gold and open levels. Lesson times are:
- Saturday, 12:00-2:00 pm @ S&S Studio
- Wednesday, 7:00-9:00 pm @ S&S Studio
- B Team – Dancers generally compete at the bronze and silver levels. Lesson times are:
- There is no B team for Winter 2023.
- C Team – Dancers generally compete at the bronze level. Lesson times are:
- Saturday, 2:00-4:00 pm @ S&S Studio
- Tuesday, 7:00-9:00 pm @ S&S Studio
- Pre-C Team – Dancers who generally have finished their first semester as a newcomer, and compete at the newcomer and bronze levels. Lesson times are:
- Saturday, 4:00-6:00 pm @ S&S Studio
- OR Saturday, 3:00-5:00 pm @ IMSB (alternating weeks)
- Newcomers– New members of our team start their first semester as newcomers. The great majority of the team’s resources go to developing our newcomers not only as dancers, but as teammates. Newcomers compete in their own category labeled as Newcomer or Pre-Bronze. This is dedicated to people in their first year of dancing ballroom. Lesson times are:
- Thursday, 9:00-11:00 pm @ IMSB MPR A
- Sunday, 3:00-5:00 pm @ IMSB MPR A
Throughout each semester, the team holds many, many events for our newcomers. On any day at any event, there are always upper-level team members available and willing to help out newcomers.
Placement on the A, B, C or Pre-C teams is determined by our coaches during tryouts, held in the beginning of both Fall and Winter semesters. Generally, couples try out after their first semester as newcomers.