Inert!a is a student-led dance organization on the University City campus that fosters an inclusive dance community open to anyone of any experience from either UCity or Hawk Hill.
Reestablished in 2016 after a period of inactivity, Inert!a aims to encourage members of the community to come together in a low-stakes environment to find the rhythm in music and dance to their own beat. Students of any background can come audition for the team or attend workshops which are held twice a month.
Gavin Carramusa ’26, co-director of Inert!a, encourages people to join the club regardless of past experience because it serves as a place for people to express themselves in a light manner.
“We just want to spread brightness around campus,” Carramusa said. “We have so many people on the team who have never done dancing before and tried it with Inert!a, and they’ve ended up loving it. So we honestly want people to get out of their comfort zones and try something new with us.”
Samuel Jackson ’23 is an example of a member who only had two years of experience with dancing in fifth and sixth grade. He ended up joining the team last year and fell in love with the community, as well as the moves.
“[Inert!a’s] goal is to welcome students of all kinds of backgrounds to express themselves through dance and to enjoy it,” Jackson said. “Last year was when I joined, and I had so much fun. They’re a really welcoming community for me.”
Not only does the team recommend community members join, they also prompt each other to come up with their own choreography and teach the rest of the group what they create.
“I try to encourage everyone to come up with whatever they want to and honestly just teach lessons or their choreo. They can come up with anything. We accept any style of dance,” Carramusa said. “I say it every time we have practice to the other members; that they’re welcome to always come up with something they want to perform for us or teach us, and we’re willing to be down with anything.”
Although they have a tight knit community of members already, the club is still looking to add more people to the team, according to co-director Carol John ’23.
“I would say that both Gavin’s and my main goal is to recruit as many people as we possibly can for the upcoming year,” John said. “We want as many kids from different years and different dance experiences to join, just so that they have a sense of community that we had when we were in college.”
As a way to bring more attention to the organization, social media chair, Queena Lin ’23, says that the new goal in terms of social media management is to create a TikTok account while continuing to post announcements to their Instagram.
“We are trying to make fun TikTok videos, showing all the personalities and the different dynamics of Inert!a,” Lin said.
Another primary goal of the organization is to reach out and work with other organizations in the community. Pilipino Cultural Association, PCA, is an organization on UCity’s campus which collaborates with Inert!to hold and fund different events.
“We’ve done a bunch of shows for other cultural associations on campus,”
Carramusa said. “We’ve done some for PCA called ‘culture shot,’ so we talked to the other organizations about letting Inert!a perform.”
Members of the organization find comfort in the inclusivity of the group, and in knowing at the end of the day that they are welcomed into a community where they can express themselves through the art of dance.
“I think it’s really cool to see students of all different years come together,” Jackson said. “We’re all different majors. We all do different things during the week, have different exams, different classes, but this is just a chance for everyone to bond over the love for dancing.”
