Line Dancing With Kevin Richards

By Josh Veshia
Staff Writer

As a third straight day of sunshine beamed on a baffled College of Saint Rose community, students lined the St. Joe’s auditorium for warm weather’s best friend – country music. Kevin Richards, of local country music station 100.9 The Cat, led a crowd of nearly 50 students in a two-hour line dancing session that left those who participated tired but smiling.
Free Chipotle chips and burritos drew them in, and the tunes from artists like Luke Bryan, Carrie Underwood and Florida Georgia Line kept them dancing.
Richards is a seven-time Country Music Awards nominee since 2000, including a win in 2006 for being the nation’s medium market radio personality of the year. Born in Corinth, New York, just a few minutes north of Albany, Richards has strong connections to the area and uses his award-winning country dance instructions to benefit the local communities.
The night started off with a dance called “swingin’ things,” which was soon followed up by “darling mumbo,” “cut a rug,” and “the bartender stomp.” As the comfort level grew and the feet began falling into place, it was clear that Richards knew what he was doing.
“More people are in to country music now, which makes line dancing a lot more fun,” he said. “Line dancing is nice, not needing a partner like you would for other dances.”
Richards started back in the early 1990s running line dancing events on the side of his radio profession. He currently hosts several country-themed events at Saratoga’s Vapor night club.
The Student Events Board musical entertainment chair this year is Rebecca Moyer, making her responsible for delivering a successful night of line dancing.
“Ordering the food for the event was pretty easy,” she said. “You just have to go online to Chipotle’s catering menu and order based on the number of people you think will come.”
Burritos were cut in half to allow for more students to enjoy alongside their chips and guacamole or sour cream. With none of the more than 100 burritos remaining at the conclusion of the night, those who attended showed their approval of the food choice.
Last year, the Student Events Board held a similar line dancing event outside on the campus quad with a barbeque theme. The densely-populated nucleus for Saint Rose activities allowed passing students to join Richards and the participants at will.
Meghan Kiely is the current senior events chair for the Students Events Board, and last year held the position of musical entertainment chair, putting her in charge of the barbeque-themed line dancing event.
“Random people walked by, which was nice,” she said. “Everyone could see it, and they were able to join if they wanted to.”
The next Student Events Board outing will be April 29 at 6 p.m. on the quad, where 2015 Association for the Promotion of Campus Activities magician of the year Lee Terbosic will bring his magic and comedy show to the Saint Rose community.
The Student Events Board and the campus community as a whole will be looking forward to another successful event similar to that of the line dancing.
“He does comedy and magic together, which makes for a really engaging and fun show!” Kiely said. “He was here earlier in the semester, but the turnout for the event was really disappointing for the great performance that he put on, so SEB decided to bring him back on the quad for a bigger audience and the turnout he deserves.”