New York’s Columbia University offers free dance lessons in ballet, samba, and waacking on July 22 in the rotunda of the university’s Low Library as part of its Shall We Dance? program, now in its fourth year.

Aus Ninja

The action starts at 6:00 p.m. with ballet as taught by Robert Garland, a former principal dancer and resident choreographer with Dance Theatre of Harlem.

He’ll be followed at 7:15 p.m. by Quenia Ribeiro teaching salsa. Ribeiro is a dancer and choreographer from Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, who teaches samba and Afro-Brazilian dance at the Ailey Extension in New York.

The evening’s last instructor is Aus Ninja, also known as Aus Spotted Eagle, who has been a featured dancer with Madonna and Jody Watley. Starting at 8:30 p.m. he’ll teach vogue and waacking, a 1970s dance popularized on TV’s Soul Train (a video from the show, at www.waacking.com/the-rebirth-of-waacking.html, will show what it’s about—and maybe revive some old memories) and now enjoying a revival.

The evening will end with a dance party at 9:35 p.m. “Absolute beginners in all styles are welcome,” the university says. To learn more, visit www.neighbors.columbia.edu.

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