By Zachary Bonner, Asst. News Editor
Susquehanna’s Trax nightclub held an event for line dancers on campus on Sept. 9.
Cowboy hats, flannels and line dancing awaited students as they entered the River Hawk Rodeo to anthems from Carrie Underwood, Miley Cyrus and Toby Keith, among others.
The club was set up with hay bales and inflatable cacti lining the walls and a mechanical wine bottle was available to ride.
The patio outside of Trax was outfitted with two fire pits and a table with all the sup- plies for s’mores.
“The best part of the rodeo was definitely the s’mores,” senior Tiffani Lopez said. “I love the theme parties at Trax. It’s a different environment every time you arrive.”
Students got in groups to learn specific dances, while others lined up to go for a spin on the mechanical wine bottle.
The Trax staff even got to participate in the fun towards the end of the event as they attempted to master the art of mechanical wine bottle riding.
“The mechanical wine bottle definitely brought a lot of people to the event,” said junior Melissa Hulslander. “It made things interesting.”
Attendees were taught six different songs with accompanying line dances by senior Dylan Smith, who learned them over the course of a few years and kept with it since.
“I went on a cruise about five years ago and I was the only young person in the whole line dancing class,” Smith said.
“I learned about six songs there and I just kept doing them every time I had a chance,” Smith continued.
Smith said that he initially was asked to teach the dances because they were a hit when he taught them last year at Susquehanna’s Relay for Life.
Staff at Trax had asked Smith if he would come back to repeat the tutorials.
“I want to make sure that people can understand it,” Smith said. “[I] want them to really try to do it, without get- ting overwhelmed.”
The most attended line dance was the one seemingly everyone was familiar with, “Cotton-Eyed Joe.” To everyone’s surprise, the dance that accompanied the song was a more detailed version of the time-tried tune.
“I learned the ‘Cotton-Eyed Joe’ in high school,” Smith said. “At the time I had a bit of anxiety about dancing and wasn’t really comfortable doing it in front of people.”
Smith emphasized that he wanted people to feel safe leaving their comfort zone and trying something new.
The Trax staff were clothed in western theme costumes to help lower the anxiety and create an atmosphere of fun.
He wanted people to take away not only some awesome dance moves, but to also gain more self-confidence in dancing with others.
“Even if you think you’ll forget, you’ll be at a party, and that song will come on. You’d think ‘Oh, I remember how to do this!’” Smith continued. “It’s something that you can take with you even after the event.”
After healthy mounds of s’mores and other various snacks around the club, rodeo- goers got to learn something that they can take with them to other gatherings outside of Trax’s rodeo party.
“People can just get into it and have fun,” Smith said. “I hope that people can take what they learned and teach other people when they get the chance.”
This weekend, the Trax team will be taking a weekend off as the Student Activities Committee hosts the fall concert with Dan and Shay.
However, on Sept. 23 the Trax staff will hold a silent event that will feature a DJ, but the atmosphere will be a slightly different.
Students will get to enjoy music through headset devices instead of a loud speaker at that event, while still being offered the refreshments like a regular Trax event.
Other Trax events will include themes such as: a rave, an escape room and homecoming semi-formal, to name a few.
Keep an eye out for upcoming events at Trax by viewing The Weekender, sent out every week to Susquehanna students, or by visiting any of Trax’s official social media pages on Facebook, Twitter, Snapchat and Instagram.
If you feel that Trax is a place that you would be willing to work at and would like to be- come involved in creating the fun atmosphere, e-mail James Foster at fosterb@susqu.edu.
