Students can step into a new culture and move their feet to the beat of African- and Caribbean-style dances Wednesday in University Recreation Center.

The second annual African dance class will provide students with a different and enjoyable way to work out as well as a way to learn about another culture, Briana Saldana, a junior criminal justice major, said.

Chasity Shorts, a junior sociology major, said the dance class was also a way to incorporate a social event to promote Black History Month.

“Dancing is big within the African heritage and we do have a lot of people of African descent with the NAACP,” Shorts said. “It just has a lot to do with our history.”

The NAACP chapter at TCU created the dance class last year from input from students for events that they wanted to see on campus, she said.

Saldana said even though the NAACP created the event, students such as Feliza Fenty and Sidee Dlamini from the African Heritage Organization (AHO) choreographed the dance last year. This year they planned to design shorter dances, she said.

Last year only one long dance was taught, Saldana said. By making the dances shorter, students can learn multiple types of dances.

Shorts said part of the reason they continued the dance class this year was due to the amount of people who showed up. Originally, she said she was expecting a couple of people to attend the first year, but more showed up than expected.

Jordan Pitts, a senior general studies major and parliamentarian of the NAACP chapter at TCU said around 10 to 15 people showed up last year.

From those who attended last year, Saldana said the chapter received positive feedback. She also said that knowing how to dance was not required.

Shorts said, “It’s just being able to laugh and learning a dance you’re not used to. You won’t get it right the first time around, but it’s about having fun and being able to laugh at yourself and being around other people.”

The chapter has had discussions about a weekly dance class or a week-long celebration of different African and Caribbean dances, but nothing had been decided yet, Saldana said.

NAACP African Dance Class

Feb. 16, 7 p.m.

University Recreation Center basement

Free and open to the public.