If you have ever taken an evening stroll by the AULA and heard the echo of hands clapping and heels stomping to the voices of Shania Twain, Shaboozey or Keith Urban through the brick walls and windows, you have likely stumbled across Vassar’s new and only line dancing organization: the Do Si Darlings. Founded at the start of the spring semester, the club invites any and all skill levels to spend one night a week spinning and shuffling to pop and country music in a positive, low-pressure environment. On February 19th, I spoke to the Do Si Darlings’ founder Marley Correll ’28 about her motivations for this new group on campus.
At each meeting, Correll leads lessons demonstrating the fundamental moves of line dancing to the tune of two new songs, covering each eight-count step by step; songs taught in previous weeks are also replayed to allow returning participants to show off their skills. Though aspects of the lessons build upon one another, anyone is welcome to attend any night and new attendees are encouraged to stand back and observe if they are unsure to develop their dancing repertoires at their own pace.
Correll found her love for line dancing, which inspired the creation of Do Si Darlings, while spending a gap year attending lessons around her hometown, New York City, at the recommendation of her sister. At the time, the city was experiencing a boom in the “line” scene as groups like Stud Country, the weekly queer line dancing club, began hosting classes at a variety of country and non-country clubs and venues. For Correll, becoming a regular at these events involved some initial nerves.
“I went without [my sister] and I was scared, and then I kept going and then after a while […] I just started meeting people and I met the teacher and she was so wonderful,” explained Correll. “I just learned more and more.”
Correll continued to develop her line skills after she was invited to start attending sessions outside of established times, practicing with other dancers in a public park amongst skaters and yogis.
When she arrived at Vassar, she found herself missing the community line dancing had provided for her. So, she had an idea.
“I was like, hey, I could do an offshoot too.”
After working hard to get the club established for this semester, Correll began to attract interest using only word-of-mouth among friends and the Instagram page, @dosidarlings. From the very first week, the club was met with an overwhelmingly positive response in turnout and energy—well exceeding Correll’s expectations. Currently, the Instagram page boasts over 100 followers.
“The first meeting, like 35 people showed up, which was really wild… the week after like 50 people were here and that was really intimidating, but I’m glad that people are enjoying it and coming back and it’s really nice to see people come back week after week.”
The evening I spoke to Correll marked the fourth week of Do Si Darling meetings—eight total dances learned, in line dancing terms—and was certainly no exception for the history of large turnouts Correll described. The AULA floor was filled with rows of excited attendees who milled and mingled in groups before Correll opened the night by leading a short warm-up routine, used at every meeting, to Twain’s “Any Man Of Mine.”
And it is no wonder why the club has earned such a positive response. Correll’s teaching style, which stems from a dancing background in high school and more recent experience learning line alongside her mother, is fun and straightforward. She encourages everyone to make mistakes and enjoy the process rather than seek perfection. For the duration of every dance, the floor is teeming with laughter. If Urban’s “Texas Twist” is playing, you might even hear a jubilant howl. Turns are sometimes missed, and less-than-perfect counts are reviewed, but it is always easy to step back in line with a smile.
“I really have to credit my mother for making me have a teaching bone because she has made me teach and she also does not have a lot of dancing experience,” Correll continued. “I love being able to see people get better at something, it’s really cool.”
Correll also ensures that attendees are challenged, varying the music and difficulty level to keep each night interesting, while also adapting her demonstrations or a song’s choreography if she notices dancers are finding certain moves too difficult.
“It’s interesting to see it from the teaching perspective…to see what I think might be more accessible movement-wise, that’s not in practice, and things that people are struggling with that maybe I didn’t think they would struggle with, or things I thought they would struggle with that they actually don’t.”
As for Correll’s ambitions for the club, she hopes to get Do Si Darlings more involved locally, aspiring to partner with the Hudson Valley Bluegrass Association and host future events open to the Poughkeepsie community. She also plans to invite other line dancers she met in her hometown to be guest teachers, who could introduce new styles that she is not as familiar with, like two-step (partner line dancing), to the club.
Above all, Correll hopes Do Si Darlings can provide a place for people to branch out and meet new people even beyond the Vassar bubble.
So, if you are looking for an escape from the house music of the THs, step on in to one of the Do Si Darling’s next meetings at the AULA, Saturday, March 1st at 8 p.m. or Thursday, March 6th at 8 p.m. Bring your friends and plan to make new ones. And no worries if you step on some toes; it is all part of the process.