Last year, The Outlook decided to come up with a “Top 10” spotlight to learn about the hobbies and passions of some of our favorite professors. Not only does this series aim to bring students and faculty closer together, but it also builds a sense of community throughout the University.
Dr. Lionetti is an Associate Professor of Biology with a specialization in microbiology, and she received her Ph.D. from the State University of New York at Stony Brook. Her current research interests include, the effect of the microbiome on health, antibiotic resistance, applications of molecular biology in clinical diagnostic procedures, emerging viral diseases and pedagogical techniques in STEM, according to the university website.
Outside of the classroom, Lionetti likes to line dance, and at the beginning of the semester, she became the faculty advisor for Monmouth’s new line dance club, Hawks ‘n’ Boots.
Each line dance is choreographed to match a specific song. Every dance has its own name and is designed to fit the rhythm and count of the music. Sometimes, dancers do “song switches,” performing a choreography to a different song that has the same number of beats.
Line dancing welcomes all skill levels, with categories ranging from beginner and novice to improver, intermediate, and advanced. The selection of songs played usually caters to all of these skill levels.
For our first “Top 10” this semester, Lionetti talks about her current favorite line dances. She said, “For a line dance to be a favorite, it has to have a great song and great movements.”
She continued, “For the dances I love, I am smiling and thinking about nothing else but the joy of dancing as I do them. Although I am not a beginner, I am pretty much a novice. My goal is simply to have fun! I do very few dances perfectly and that doesn’t matter to me. We all take missteps (which instructors affectionately call “variations”), but as long as I can follow the beat and basically turn in the right direction and end up at the right wall, I can enjoy the dance.”
Edamame
Funky song and fun dance that goes well to the song. I love the twist, the swinging leg steps, and the turning option on the last few steps!
Chill Factor
So much fun! Lots of parts to it and lots of turns. You can’t help but be happy when you hear this song come on!
Trespassing
In many line dances, choreographers add an additional set of steps, known as a “tag,” when there is a change in the music. You cannot beat the tag in this dance! We slap out hands on our legs and do specific arm movements that go so well with the beat of this song by Adam Lambert.
Something You Can Savor
This is done to Jimmie Allen and Pitbull’s “Flavor.” Local dance instructor Caitlin Hull choreographed it and she did a beautiful job. The Latin beat and the moves that go so well to the song make it a great dance!
At Your Worst
This dance is to a beautiful song. It has great turns which feel natural and are a lot of fun to do. It also has a prissy walk where you walk almost like a model would walk (so they tell me!) It is a dance I like to sing to as I dance and that is always a plus for me (maybe not so much for others!)
Walk the Line
This dance can be done to many different songs, but my absolute favorite (and the only one I really like it to) is Rockell’s version of Garth Brooks “The Dance.” It’s fast and furious with lots of turns. Somehow I can’t stop myself from throwing in an extra turn even though it often throws me off in the dance!
Pieces to the Puzzle
This is a fun and funky dance with some backwards moving swinging leg steps and a fun jump out and turn around step at the end. I have to modify the jump lately but I still have fun.
Wave on Wave
Very beautiful classic dance with flowy movement – just love the last 8 steps.
Imelda’s Way
This is such a cute dance that is choreographed perfectly to the song. It has some very fun steps including a charleston, lockstep, weave and scissor step. There is a hip bump at the end and who doesn’t love that!
Zjozzy’s Funk
Shuffles and swivels make this dance so much fun to do. It can be done to many songs but Bacco Per Bacco by Zucchero is my absolute favorite. I can’t stop smiling when I dance this!
