The requirements for the Swing Dancing Club's final dance of the semester are simple: enthusiasm and a pair of comfortable shoes.

The dance begins at 10 tomorrow night in the HUB Alumni Hall. Newcomers can show up an hour early for free beginners' lessons and stay for open dancing to the sounds of The Boilermaker's Jazz Band until 1 a.m..

On Monday nights, from 8:30 to 10 in 133 White Building, members break out their two-toned shoes for lessons and then return Wednesday night for open dancing to Peggy Lee, Benny Goodman, Louie Armstrong, Big Bad Voodoo Daddy, The Royal Crown Review and a plethora of other old-style and contemporary jazz and swing bands.

The Swing Dancing Club, while only in its fourth year, has already considerably permeated the student body.

"I think now they're officially the second largest club on campus. They've got 800 people on the list serve," said teaching coordinator Chris Becker.

Becker (sophomore-psychology) believes the club has grown so quickly because, "There's just such a subculture with it that you can't help getting sucked in.

"You show up at the HUB on a Saturday night with nothing to do. Your friend says, 'OK, let's go take a swing dancing lesson.' You get in and a month later you're off buying special shoes and signing up for workshops in Washington, D.C.," he said.

Jay Rubine (senior-nutrition) also got inadvertently hooked.

"Well, I got involved because I got stuck taking ballroom dance as an ESACT. At first I wasn't thrilled, then while taking it I learned a whole lot and got to dance with many women. Then we got to swing, which some friends of mine were trying to get me into since freshman year. So lo and behold, I started to go to lessons, and here I am a year later still going," he said.

"I went to a dance and I didn't know what I was doing so I decided to come learn," said Chieh Wu (senior-electrical engineering), who has remained a member for two years.

Aaron Coble, who was recently elected the new president of the club said, "It definitely gives people a creative outlet, something that they can just go and have fun doing, something aside from their studies that's a release, and we bring in lots of really good bands they wouldn't get a chance to hear otherwise."

Scott Carter (sophomore-computer engineering), a teacher and former vice-president, was one of the few members interested in swing before college.

"It's one of the reasons I came to Penn State. It's got a good engineering program, a good music program, and they have a swing dancing club."

It all began when Melissa Olivadoti (senior-psychology) left her home in Southern California for life in Centre County in the Fall of '98.

"When I first got here I asked if they had a club and they said no, we have a ballroom dance club that does swing," she said. "That just wasn't enough for me since I was used to dancing several nights a week. So, I called my mom and she said, 'Well, why don't you start something?'

"I started one night just going up and down my hall. There were only three or four floors, but I found people who were really interested."

Olivadoti then went to a ballroom dance and handed out flyers asking for interested dancers to help start the club.

"I think by the end of that year we had about 300 people, and then it kept growing. It just started spreading via word of mouth," she said.

Laura Kelso, who was president this year, was one of the first to sign the list.

"I pretty much wanted to do swing dancing before I even got to Penn State," said Kelso (senior-physics). "I joined the ballroom dance club just because they were the only ones around at the time and then shortly after that was when the swing dance club was starting, and I got into it in the beginning."

Kelso said the club tries to teach various forms and steps at all different levels so everyone can learn.

"The one we teach which is a six count that people learn in ballrooms, that's called East Coast Swing. The other form of swing that we teach is Lindy Hop, which is an eight count dance," Kelso explained. "On top of that, we teach other dances from different eras. We teach Charleston, the '20s style and the '40s style and various line dances."

According to Kelso, around 50 swing enthusiasts show up regularly for lessons.

Sarah Spell (junior-psychology) first started dancing in October and is now one of these regulars.

"It's such a good workout and it's a good way to meet people. It's a nice social dance. You get to go around to lots of different partners and get to know a lot of people through it," Spell said.

Becker explained the immense popularity. "Swing evolved in the '20s and '40s because people just wanted to dance. There was no council that cut it, and said this is correct, they just wanted to have fun and they did it."

Erin Schneiderman (graduate-criminal justice) graduated in December, but dancing is still part of her weekly schedule.

"It's really free and you can't mess up because it's all social dancing. Here there are no restrictions and no rules. You just kind of feel the music and dance," she said.

Spell explained, "It's addictive. You come to a lesson, and you're like, 'this is really cool, look what I learned' and you keep doing it, and it keeps building, and everything keeps building onto something else you learned. Eventually you're looking at people that you thought originally 'Oh wow, they are so incredibly good,' and you're like, 'I can do that.' It's great."

"Contrary to what you might think you don't need rhythm because I have none and I can do it," said Rubine.

Even if you have two left feet, Coble (freshman-computer science) feels tomorrow night's dance offers other fun opportunities.

"If you want to hear some very authentic '20s or '30 style jazz, The Boilermaker's are probably one of the most authentic jazz bands around," he said.

"It's just pure fun," said Becker. "In popular college culture there's the frat parties, the beer, the rampant sex, but this is an alternative. You can come here and you can meet new people just like you would at those frat parties."