Orange & Brew transformed into a roaring 1920s speakeasy Thursday night, complete with men in suspenders and women twirling in trailing lace dresses.
Reitz Union Board Entertainment and the Florida Swing Dancing Club hosted the Great Gatsby Swing Dance. About 50 people attended.
Long pearl necklaces and neon gangster hats were on hand for those who wanted to take part in the theme. Flappers and mobsters snacked on cheese and fruit while listening to swing music. Most Wanted and Public Enemy posters lined the walls.
The event began with a swing dance lesson taught by the dance club’s president Tyrel Clayton, a 20-year-old English junior. The dance began shortly afterward.
“I was impressed on how relatively accurate they got the period,” Clayton said.
The Great Gatsby Swing Dance was the concluding event of RUB’s Great Gatsby theme week. RUB’s bands committee codirector Izaura Spence said the theme was chosen as one of the top four themes preferred by students according to a Facebook poll posted this summer.
“This is definitely the most creative event that we’ve had,” she said.
Spence said she was impressed with the theme week’s overall turnout.
Dani Buchheister, a 20-year-old management sophomore, agreed.
“It’s a lot of people we’ve never seen before, and that’s awesome,” she said.
Buchheister and Ryan Kratt, a 19-year-old political science sophomore, arrived at the swing dance in full 1920s attire. The two have been swing dancing for a few months and are members of the Florida Swing Dancing Club, which regularly draws anywhere from 80 to 180 people to its weekly dances.
Kratt and Buchheister discovered swing dancing as freshmen and attended their first lesson together.
These days, they occasionally travel out of the state to attend swing dance workshops.
“[Dancing is] kind of something we want to do for a really long time,” Kratt said.
Kratt sported suspenders, two-toned shoes and a faux mustache. Buchheister donned a glitter headband and a sparkling, flapper-inspired dress.
“It gets to the point where you just want to dance as much as you can,” Buchheister said.
