“Here they come with big wide grins.
… Here they come the Cardinal Whirlwinds.”

On my first day of grad school at Stanford, I ran into Evan at the then-Computer Science library on the second floor of Gates Building. A friend and I were talking about dancing when Evan joined our conversation and told us three things: Jammix, Decadance, and the Cardinal Whirlwinds.

I went to Jammix and loved it. I bought a pair of Dansneakers from the Nomadic Shoe Store in which I danced for the next six years till the soles of the shoes fell off… for the third time.

At the time, I had absolutely no idea what Decadance does or is about but went to the audition anyways. Deca was awesome, but unfortunately I didn’t get in.

I did, however, join Cardinal Whirlwinds for half a season. Square dancing to Caitlin’s calls, swinging your partner around (and around), and the Show Basket Square formed some of my earliest dance memories at Stanford. :)   Here the group got together for a dress-making sleepover party to make the women’s costumes.