Jacob Harrelson
President
Jacob Harrelson is a senior majoring in Robotics with a minor Computer Science. He is from Holland, Michigan and has been on the team for two years. His favorite dances are the International Foxtrot and the Jive. In his limited spare time, Jacob loves playing cards, swimming, baking, and getting up to hijinks with his friends.
Role: The President is ultimately responsible for overseeing all team operations, as well as long-term planning for the growth and improvement of the team. They are responsible for overseeing the timely execution of all team operations and making sure all other officers are fulfilling their responsibilities. The President leads board meetings and ensures the smooth functioning of team events. They brief board members on the upcoming events and allocates tasks accordingly. The president acts as a consultant for all board members, is responsible for training new board members, and maintaining strong relations with our coaches, DTS, the CCRB, and leaders in the greater Midwest Ballroom Community (other collegiate teams, organizers at OSB, Arnold). The President is ultimately responsible for a smooth transition to the successive board. The President also serves as the “Team Liaison” on the Ballroom Club board.
Eligibility: At least one year on executive board, and member of the A/B team at time of running.
Rachel Leonard
Away competition chair
Rachel Leonard (she/her/hers) is a sophomore studying Actuarial Mathematics with a minor in Economics. She is from Illinois and has been on the team for one year. She enjoys listening to Taylor Swift, watching Disney Channel Original Movies, petting cats, and baking. Her favorite dances are American Rumba and International Tango.
Role: The Away Competition Chair is responsible for promoting upcoming competitions and making attending competitions as easy as possible. This includes organizing accommodations and carpools prior to the competition. Away comp chair is responsible for accurately forecasting (possibly through polls) attendance at competitions weeks or even a month in advance in order to identify housing options. The chair is responsible for ensuring enough transportation – including members’ cars, reserving UM vans well in advance before they are all taken up, renting cars if need be. The away comp chair works with other teams’ home comp coordinators to ensure maximum rooms are made available for our members attending and, at last resort, reserves hotels. The chair works with the Treasurer to assure fairness in travel costs. Finally, for OSB/Arnold, the Away Comp chair works closely with Susan McFerran to ensure adequate rooms at the Drury Inn and Crown Plaza are obtained through the competition organizers.
Eligibility: Current member of A/B/C team
Owen Hoffend
Treasurer
Owen Hoffend (he/him/his) is a PhD student studying in Computer Science and Engineering. He grew up in Minnesota, but he now lives in the San Francisco Bay Area when not at UMich. Owen began dancing during his undergrad, and has been on UMBDT since the wacky Fall 2020 COVID semester. Aside from dance, Owen enjoys cooking, playing piano, programming, video games, riding roller coasters, and various other hijinks. He’ll also gladly debate anything related to AI with you.
Role: The Treasurer is responsible for balancing the team’s accounts and manages payments for team incurred costs. They also collect dues from team members as well as registration money for the Michigan Ballroom Competition. Over the course of the semester, the Treasurer tracks balances for every member and ensures members have paid their accumulated balances.
Eligibility: Current member of A/B/C team
Jonathan Daniel
Technology Chair
Jonathan Daniel (he/him/his) is a senior studying Computer Science and Electrical Engineering. He is from Northern Virginia, where he began ballroom in high school and continued in his sophomore year. He loves playing games, reading, and especially baking pies. If you go to a competition, you’ll have a chance to try one. His favorite dances are jive, samba, and quickstep.
Role: The Technology Chair is responsible for all technology-related issues of the team. They update and maintain the webpage and the e-mail lists, including newcomer registration, Michigan competition registration, apparel, PayPal payment buttons, and donations. For OSB, MichComp, and Arnold, the Tech Chair is responsible for the videotaping of dancing and making the videos available for team members to view.
Eligibility: Currently in at least second semester on the team. Website expertise strongly encouraged. Coding expertise is helpful.
Alan Zhang
Recruitment chair
Alan Zhang (he/him/his) is a junior majoring in computer science and minoring in statistics and music. He is from Northern Virginia and began dancing his sophomore year. When he’s not dancing or procrastinating homework, he enjoys playing piano and cello, reading sci-fi/fantasy novels, or playing video games. His favorite (and therefore objectively the best) dances are jive, samba, and the viennese waltz.
Role: The Recruitment Chair helps newcomers have a smooth transition as they join the team. They have an intimate relationship with newcomer couples and addresses any of their concerns, both individually and as a group. The Recruitment chair is responsible for the advertising of the team during the Fall and Winter semester recruitment seasons, including but not limited to distribution of flyers, Festifall, and Winterfest. The Recruitment Chair is present at all beginner lessons on Saturday and helps newcomers bring together partnerships and prepare for competitions. They handle general email inquiries addressed to the team (e.g. newcomer questions).
Eligibility: Current member of A/B/C team
Nicolette Kleinhoffer
Curriculum Chair
Nicolette Kleinhoffer (she/her/hers) is a senior studying chemical engineering with a minor in polymer chemistry. She is from Romeo, MI. and has been with the team for one year. When she isn’t dancing she enjoys knitting, playing guitar, reading classic literature, and drinking fancy coffee. Her favorite dances are International Rumba, International Cha Cha, and American Waltz.
Role: The Curriculum Chair is in charge of lesson scheduling (A,B,C and Pre-C) as well as setting up the DTS teaching schedule. The curriculum chair will also be in charge of the fall and winter team workshop should there be interest in holding them. The curriculum chair is also in charge of finding student teachers and practices supervisors when and if appropriate.
Eligibility: Current member of A/B/C team.
Tola Kilian
public relations Chair
Tola is a senior double-majoring in Biopsychology, Cognition & Neuroscience and Classical Archaeology. She is from Krakow in Poland and has been on the team for 2.5 years. When she’s not dancing, she enjoys painting, photography, and hiking. She likes sipping on good coffee and she will pet every dog on her way to class. Her favorite dance is latin cha-cha (but don’t ask her how much she loves bolero).
Role: The Public Relations Chair serves as the liaison between the team and other organizations. They handle requests for the team to do showcase performances or teach lessons. They work in conjunction with the President and Recruitment Chair on welcome week events and distributing flyers at the beginning of each semester. Prior to the U of M competition, they aid the competition committee with canvassing. This person is also in charge of scheduling team parties and organizing apparel orders. The PR chair is also responsible for planning team social events. The PR chair should maintain a steady stream of social events through the semester, offering a wide variety of opportunities for team members to socialize.
Eligibility: Current member of A/B/C/Pre-C team.
Nathaniel Hodgson
practice space coordinator
Nathaniel (Nate) Hodgson (he/him) is a senior in Chemical Engineering with a minor in Spanish from Macomb County, Michigan. Outside of dance, Nate loves playing Dungeons and Dragons, reading historical/fantasy books, and learning languages. This is Nate‘s second year on the team, and his favorite dances are the American and International Foxtrots, closely followed by Swing and Jive.
Role: The Practice Space Coordinator is responsible for all of the team’s practice space, including but not limited to: DTS, the CCRB, and the Michigan Union/League. The most important job for this position is to maintain a healthy relationship between the team and the Crabtree family (owners of DTS) and the people in charge of any other practice spaces. They are normally required to oversee cleaning and close DTS two nights per week, with another board member closing the other two nights. They are also responsible for reserving space at the CCRB, Union or League, and anywhere else desired. The Practice Space Coordinator also ensures that the key elements of our relationship with DTS are satisfied, such as scheduling a “DTS day” to fix up the practice studio and help provide team member volunteers for the annual recital.
Eligibility: Currently in at least second semester on the team.