The Swingin’ Spurs dance team is like being part of a family. Story and photo by Leigh Ann Maurath
P
eople develop the love of dancing at different times, in different ways and in different places. For Maya Jane Wahl, an agricultural education student, it was at her homecoming dance. Zach Cooper, also a student in agricultural education, first danced at an FFA activity, and for Donita Whitney-Bammerlin, club adviser, it was a dance at the armory with her brother.
The Stories Members of the Kansas State University Swingin’ Spurs all have different stories, but the same love of dancing. Wahl’s first memory of a country swing dance was in high school. “I taught myself how to swing dance in high school off of YouTube,” says Wahl. “I started watching videos. Then I got my
date for homecoming to learn with me, and from then on it grew and grew.” At homecoming, Wahl says she and her date were the only two in the school that could swing dance. Little did she know her desire to learn how to swing dance would make her first year of college easier. “Being an out-of-state student is difficult, to say the least,” Wahl says. “This club and these people have kind of been a family to me since leaving home.” She says being able to have the Swingin’ Spurs as a home base and being able to talk to the people there has been really wonderful. Wahl is not the only one who considers the club a safe place away from home. “The people who are in the club are always friendly and like a second family in a way,” Cooper says.
The Swingin’ Spurs members share the same love for dancing to country music.
28 Agriculturist • Fall 2016
Wahl asked Cooper to be her partner for the club’s tryouts. A couple of weeks later, he received a phone call from the coach inviting him to join the team. “In no way, did I think I would be doing this,” Cooper says. “I always thought I looked like a tall, baby giraffe trying to walk for the first time when I danced.” Cooper has gained self-confidence through his involvement with the team. “They teach you how to be a little better,” Cooper says. For Whitney-Bammerlin, the Swingin’ Spurs adviser, her love of dancing formed in one magical moment. Her mother’s cancer was in remission and Whitney-Bammerlin was on her way to the armory for the rodeo dance with her brother. The two were ready to celebrate. That night, Whitney-Bammerlin realized just how exhilarating swing dancing could be. She will forever remember the night. The song “White Lightning” played and she danced without a care in the world, while her brother led the way. “I could always anticipate his next move,” Whitney-Bammerlin says with a sparkle in her eye. When the song was nearly over, Whitney-Bammerlin noticed the empty dance floor.