Hearts were whirling as feet were twirling at the Valentine's Swing Dance Friday, Feb. 15 hosted by the Auburn Knights Orchestra at the Event Center Downtown in Opelika.
The Valentine's Swing Dance started at 7 p.m. with Chris and Laura Olds of the Auburn University Swing Dance Association teaching an hour long class to get couples in the swing dancing mood. Then the Auburn Knights Orchestra played swing music for the rest of the night until 11 p.m.
"It's really fun to play public gigs, because you have a lot of people who actually came to dance as opposed to sitting around and mingling," said Auburn Knight Tyler Strickland.
Strickland has been playing with the Knights for two years now. He and fellow member, Jeremy Leff, both played for the homecoming swing dance last November at the Marriott in Opelika. The event had between 400 and 450 people, so the dance was moved to the Event Center Downtown to accommodate more people, according to Leff.
"The Auburn Knights have been together since the 1930s and historically held dances like this throughout the year," Leff said. "Our mission is to make sure that at least every Auburn student has at least heard of us."
Many students, such as Patrick Hoerle and Blake Locklar, came to the dance to celebrate Valentine's Day with their dates.
"I invited her for Valentine's Day, so it was a little Valentine's Day gift," Locklar said. "We didn't have anything planned yet so we came to the dance."
Hoerle said he went to the homecoming dance last semester and it was a ball. He figured it made sense to come to this dance as well to have a nice night, have fun and dance.
Laura Olds was also there to dance and to help others learn to dance. She and her husband have been teaching swing dance since fall of 2003 in both big groups and small groups.
"It's a challenge, but it is a lot of fun too," Olds said. "Keeping everybody interested and keeping everybody learning, not moving too slow or too fast, but teaching is just a lot of fun. Swing dance is fun."
At the homecoming dance in November, Olds said, she had around 100-150 people who started the lesson in the first hour, and the number just kept getting bigger.
"Swing dancing is a really great way to meet with a lot of people, socialize and have a good time," Olds said. "It's great to do with a date, but it's also good when you don't have a date. I mean I will probably dance with a lot of different people and so will my husband, and it will be fun."
Olds' father, Bob Jemian, was an Auburn Knight from 1969-1971, and he and his wife were at the dance to support both their daughter and the Knights.
"I'm going to be playing in the combo later," Jemian said. "I'm here for the kids; I'm here for the dance. I'm here to have fun."
The dance floor was filled with people young and old as they all tried to pick up the moves Olds was teaching them. Students were smiling as the orchestra played the jazzy, swing music.
"We don't pass up a chance to hear the Knights play," Connie Jemian said.
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