WVU student puts best foot forward with line dancing
The WVU Country Line Dancing Club meets on Tuesday evenings throughout the semester, giving students opportunities to learn new steps and practice familiar routines together. Elkview native Lauren Dysart is one of the founding members of the club. (WVU Photo/Mark Webb)
Lauren Dysart grew up in Elkview, but West Virginia University was always familiar to her because she spent many weekends in Morgantown embracing the Mountaineer spirit.
Her grandparents were WVU football season ticket holders and both parents are proud University alumni. “I feel like I just grew up here and I’m continuing my story here, but in a different context,” she said.
While the senior marketing major stays busy balancing academics, fulfilling Chi Omega sorority duties, teaching swim lessons and serving on the Mountaineer Maniacs executive board, she credits her role in helping co-found the Country Line Dancing Club as one of her proudest accomplishments at WVU.
“It’s just a cool thing to be able to say that I did this with my friends to leave my mark on WVU,” Dysart said.
Lauren Dysart, founding member, WVU Country Line Dancing Club (Submitted Photo)
The line dancing student organization idea spawned during a casual night in, when Maria Amores, a senior communications studies major from Martinsburg, who grew up line dancing through 4-H, suggested they form a club.
“We were all just sitting at her house, hanging out, having fun, and she’s like, ‘You know, it’d be so much fun if we started a line dancing club,’ and we were like, ‘Oh my gosh, yes, we should totally do it.’” she said.
Dysart and Amores along with Emily Boehler, a senior nursing student from Martinsburg, and Morgan Johnke, a senior advertising and public relations major from New Castle, Pennsylvania, worked together to make it a reality.
Recruiting Audra Hurley, a senior exercise physiology student from Morgantown, to serve as treasurer and complete the executive board, they were able to present the idea to the Student Government Association.
“We wrote up the Constitution and came up with how we would run our meetings. We decided it was going to be 30 minutes of teaching then a 30 minute dance hall. We took it in front of SGA and they approved us,” she said.
The club launched during the Fall 2022 semester.
The founding members of the WVU Country Line Dancing Club, left to right, Maria Amores, Morgan Johnke, Emily Boehler, and Lauren Dysart. Audra Hurley not pictured. (Submitted Photo)
Friends and acquaintances showed genuine interest and the club’s member chat grew to over 100 people before a meeting was held. About 50 people attended the club’s first meeting.
“My favorite memory is that first meeting, just seeing how many people showed up,” Dysart said.
Originally, meetings were hosted at the Student Rec Center, but the organization quickly outgrew those spaces and relocated to the Evansdale Residential Complex Blue Room to accommodate more people.
The growth continues.
“Our first meeting this year, we had 115 people show up,” she said. “We were not expecting that number at all. And then consistently, we’ve had around 30 to 50 people showing up for each meeting.”
Braden Adkins, the 70th Mountaineer mascot, joined a recent meeting.
Braden Adkins, the 70th Mountaineer mascot, joined in the fun at a recent meeting of the WVU Country Line Dancing Club. (WVU Photo/Mark Webb)
The Country Line Dancing Club meets at 8 p.m. on Tuesdays in the ERC, or Towers, Blue Room, allowing students to dance the night away and make some friends.
The club is one of the more than 450 student organizations — ranging from sports and philosophy to art appreciation and civic engagement — that are offered at WVU through Student Engagement and Leadership.
It was among the student organizations represented at the Feb. 5 Student Involvement Fair held at the Student Rec Center.
Dysart’s advice for those interested in line dancing could apply to all kinds of other interests.
“If you don’t like it, you don’t have to come back. But we’d love for you to just give it a try,” she said.
Dysart didn’t have any line dancing experience prior to the club’s formation and, in the beginning, relied on other tutorials to teach the dances. “Nobody’s good at it at first, but it’s very easy to catch on,” she said.
The atmosphere is relaxed and welcoming. “You don’t have to pay dues. You just show up. You can do what you want. If you don’t want to dance, you can sit against the wall and watch.”
As the club continues to grow, the future looks bright.
“It’s just much fun,” said Dysart, who will graduate in December. “I know that this club is still going to be going strong once I’m gone and I’m just excited to see how it changes and grows.”
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