“Go out! Have Fun! Move! Try something new!” This is the motto of Vinnie’s Jump and Jive dance studio, which hosted an open house on Saturday. The day featured six free classes and attracted eager dance students from Wesleyan, Middletown, and communities across the state. People in stocking feet and sneakers waltzed, swung, and line-danced across Vinnie’s polished wood floors, delighted to be trying something new and fun.
Vinnie’s, a non-profit organization, was founded three years ago by Wesleyan alumna Jennifer Alexander ’89, and her partner Mark Masselli.
“[They wanted to create a] nonsmoking, nonalcoholic environment for all ages, and to promote good health,” said dance instructor Donald Cottrill.
Alexander is also the director of Middletown’s Kidcity Children’s Museum, and Masselli is the CEO of the Middletown Community Health Center (CHC) and a community organizer. The dance hall is a “wellness project” funded through the CHC.
“Dance is a fun thing that people associate with good health,” Cottrill said.
On Saturday, people aged sixteen to sixty attended classes in Country Line Dancing, Waltz, East Coast Swing, Lindy Hop, Salsa, and Nia, a form of non-impact aerobics. The classes were all geared toward beginners, and provided a sampling of what Vinnie’s has to offer.
The day of free classes finished off with a DJed Swing dance, which cost $3 with a Wes ID.
Cottrill was pleased with the turnout at the open house.
“The classes have gotten progressively larger over the day,” he said, noting that while the morning country line dance class only had eight students, the afternoon Swing class had twenty.
Cottrill also said many more Wesleyan students attended the open house than he had seen in regular classes.
In addition to Waltz, Cottrill also teaches Fox Trot, Cha Cha, Salsa, Samba, and Rhumba in the Vinnie’s Ballroom Dance series.
Kat Goddard, a journalist from West Hartford, attended nearly all of the classes on Saturday, plans to come back.
“The instructors are great, so funny and interesting,” she said. “I definitely like it here. It’s inexpensive, and for a date it’s perfect!”
Tu Chi Nguyen ’06 took Cottrill’s Waltz class on Saturday.
“[Cottrill] was great, very funny,” she said. “It was wonderful… I never knew about Vinnie’s before, but now I think it’s great.”
Nguyen first heard about Vinnie’s through Cheek to Cheek, Wesleyan’s ballroom, swing, and social dancing club.
Rachel Lindsay ’05, a co-head of Cheek to Cheek, has been dancing at Vinnie’s since it opened in 2001.
“It’s just really exciting to have a place [to dance] in Middletown,” she said. “It’s such a highlight having it right down the street. I think it’s awesome to see Wesleyan students down there… it’s a bit of a saving grace to go dance with people who are forty and don’t care about classes. You cannot go dancing anywhere else in Connecticut for three dollars.”
Ken Snelling is a Wesleyan alumni living in Middletown who ran Cheek to Cheek while he was a student. Snelling now volunteers at Vinnie’s.
“[Alexander and Masselli created it] to start an old-fashioned dance hall, though they were not sure such an idea would work in modern times,” he wrote in an email.
After three years in business, Vinnie’s is still doing well.
“It’s great to see something like this downtown,” said Judith Felton, who has lived in Middletown for 15 years and teaches at the community college here. “I didn’t think it would work out at first, but it has.”
Felton, who heads the community college’s human services program, said that Vinnie’s is good for Middletown.
“Anytime you can have something on Main Street that’s free or low-cost, that’s great. I wish the mayor was here. I hope she’s proud that things like this are here,” she said.
Anna Weinstein ’04 attended the beginning Swing class taught by Rob Szarka and like many first-timers at the open house, would like to return.
“I’d definitely go back, especially for the bigger Saturday night dances,” she said. Megumi Kito ’06, who went to the Waltz class, echoed Weinstein’s sentiments.
“I would love to go back if my schedule is not too busy,” Kito said. “I’m glad I went.”
Vinnie’s Jump and Jive is located at 424 Main Street and sponsors Swing Dances about one Saturday a month ($3 with Wes ID). For information about classes and dances, call (860) 347-6971, ext. 3777. For information about Cheek to Cheek, contact Rachel Lindsay at rlindsay@wesleyan.edu or Ronald Lim at ctlim@wesleyan.edu.
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