2001 – Present

First Ballroom Dance

by Bram van Heuveln

Thanks to RPI I had my first (and last!) ballroom dance! This was at the Dancing With the RPI Stars event in 2011. Various RPI faculty and staff were paired with different members from the RPI Ballroom team that organized this event in what was then the new ECAV building. I was paired with Ali Kennicutt, who I later found out to be a winner of various regional ballroom competitions. Having no ballroom dance experience, we decided to do a foxtrot as that seemed like the easiest dance for my stiff and non-rhythmic self. I skipped the first few practices as I was really just too embarrassed! However, Ali’s patience pulled me through, and we made a decent showing at the rehearsal. On the day of the actual event, my wife made sure to put a few sake’s in me, and amazingly Ali and I won the public vote! Well, Ali won, and I pretended to lead :P But hey, still my proudest achievement at RPI!