Two To Tango
By Chris Flaherty, QU Class of 2013
Monday nights at nine the Quinnipiac Ballroom Society meets, and classes are taught to students interested in learning dances such as the cha-cha, the tango, and the waltz. Teaching the class is president and founder Eric Turcio and Vice President Victoria Ricotta. These two keep this club going, and that requires a lot more then remembering the dance steps.
Turcio, a senior broadcast journalism major from Guilford, has been dancing for 20 years, 12 professionally. Ricotta, a sophomore psychology major from Westchester, NY, has been dancing for 17, three of those years for ballroom. Turcio brought ballroom dancing to Quinnipiac four years ago. After speaking with the assistant director of athletics, Linda Wooster, he arranged a “meet and greet” session, where 255 students showed up. It was a big enough response that a dance class started, which led to the club and competitive team that exists today.
In addition to his QBS responsibilities, Turcio is an anchor at Q30, the host of a monthly segment on the “Connecticut Style” Show on Channel 8, and the Friday dance segments, where he teaches Latin dancing. As the head of the QBS, Turcio has a big responsibility that he says is “not easy”, running an organization of 150 members that is known throughout the Northeast. He went on to mention that if they can’t keep the interest in the club running, they couldn’t keep the club itself running. Not to mention Quinnipiac does not fund the club. They offered to provide $500 a year in the beginning. Turcio said in his opinion that was not enough, and he turned them down. He has to seek outside sponsors, while throwing dance parties and charging membership fees. Turcio takes his position very serious, but he says he loves it.
Meanwhile, Ricotta transferred to Quinnipiac in the middle of last year. When she learned about QBS, she emailed Turcio, and as she puts it, “the rest is history.” She said she finds dancing at her level very demanding, which could also be said about her position as vice president. Ricotta says her job is very time consuming, and involves a lot of paperwork and behind the scenes meetings and communication with Turcio. She explains she has “no idea how he balances his life. He’s an incredibly motivated individual, and he does so much for the club. I don’t know what I’m going to do without him.”