Nicholls is now offering Cajun-Zydeco dance classes free of charge to students that wish to prepare for Swamp Stomp 2014.
According to Brenda Haskins, Swamp Stomp chairman, there are three classes offered this year as a trial run to get students more involved in the upcoming Swamp Stomp activities this spring.
Swamp Stomp is a festival developed six years ago by Nicholls faculty and staff in order to preserve the culture and traditions of south Louisiana. “The original purpose for holding the festival at Nicholls is to get young people interested in their heritage and to preserve Thibodaux traditions for the future generations,” Haskins said.
Nicholls is hoping that the 6th annual Swamp Stomp festival will be more student-oriented. “Swamp Stomp is one of the big events on campus because it really showcases our beautiful campus, students included, to the whole community,” Haskins said.
According to Haskins, the festival’s student participation has decreased in past years due to the fact that the students do not know how to dance to authentic Zydeco music. These classes are to teach students how to properly dance to Cajun music and to have fun doing it.
There was already a class held in September, but there will be other opportunities to learn. There will be another class in October and another in February, just in time for Swamp Stomp on March 20-23, 2014.
A concert by Thysman and Friends is held right after the dance classes end so that students can practice their newly-learned moves. “At first, the class was two hours long with a Zydeco band following, but many students left after the class because it was so long,” Haskins said. “So now we are making the class only one hour long in the hopes of having students stay for the whole event.”
“The first class had a great turn out of about 50 students, so we are now starting to have the classes in the student union ball room in order to accommodate more students,” Haskins said.
The classes are taught by Glenn Laigast and Lori Bertaut from Zydeco/Cajun Dance Productions, LLC based out of New Orleans. “Glenn and Lori will also be teaching the dance classes an hour before the Swamp Stomp festival,” Haskins said.
Haskins has also been getting a lot of good feedback from the students that attended the dance classes. One student in attendance was Cera Boatwright, a nursing senior. “I had a blast! They taught us basic Cajun dances that were fun and easy to learn. Students should really take advantage of the lessons that are free and super fun,” Boatwright said.