Yerkebulan Imanbayev, Class of 2024, was feeling blue. So he started to dance.

“I can only imagine how many freshmen are going through the same things I’m going through … [like] loneliness, anxiety,” he explained. “It was just such a healing experience ... and I thought, wouldn’t it be really cool to recreate [the dance parties we had during Candidate Weekend]?”

And so the idea to create a class dance video was born.

Together with Aya Adib, Class of 2024, Imanbayev emailed the entire class on Sept. 19 asking them to send in video clips of themselves dancing in front of a camera. The first five seconds are choreographed and participants are free to showcase their own routine afterwards.

“It’s this idea that it’s meant to be fun, it’s meant to be lively and it’s meant to showcase everyone dancing together,” said Adib.

Going from the idea’s initial conception to making it public all took a couple of hours. Determined not to take on this project alone, an enthusiastic Imanbayev told Adib about it. Together on Zoom, they spent some time coming up with choreography as Adib felt the idea needed more structure.

“The words ecstasy and ecstatic came from the Greeks ... They were dancing to their gods, and what happened was whenever they were dancing, ... they were, like, leaving their bodies. I think that’s exactly what we need as a class,” explained Imanbayev. “Dance to me was the overarching theme of Marhaba. It was [there] during Rooftop Rhythms, it was [there] during the TikTok party.”

Imanbayev and Adib were initially skeptical, afraid that no one would participate. It wasn’t until people started uploading their videos that they realized, in their own words, that “people do love to dance and it is an important feature of our class.”

“I’m not a dancer. Participating in this video was something I did [to create] … this atmosphere of a college experience despite the current circumstances,” said Aruzhan Temirgaliyeva, Class of 2024. “These kinds of contributions make you realise that you are still able to create [a college atmosphere] through our joint efforts.”

“There’s a silliness to it which only makes it more fun ... I think it really captures this virtual semester,” Adib added, laughing. “We hope it’s just a moment in the day for [the class of 2024] to literally just let loose and to be silly and to have fun ... and just contribute to something that’s bigger than an individual.”