Stoney’s Cuse line dancers move indoors, broaden community
With the help of line dancing instructor Sarah Jacoby, Stoney’s Rockin’ Country Cuse expanded their social media presence, allowing students outside of SU to participate in the dances. With a younger demographic, Stoney’s allows members to dance in a more low-stakes environment. Courtesy of Audrey Becker
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Last semester, hundreds of students huddled in a South Campus backyard with a makeshift wooden dance floor for weekly line dancing meetings. Now, four months later, they’re gathering with both university students and locals at downtown events.
“It’s still very trial and error but we are starting to get the flow of things,” said Sarah Jacoby, Syracuse University senior and line dancing instructor. “People keep coming back because line dancing is all about community.”
Brothers Jackson and Xavier Carrier have been hosting line dancing nights in Xavier’s backyard under the name “Stoney’s Rockin’ Country Cuse.” This semester, Stoney’s has expanded into the downtown Syracuse area, hosting an event at Middle Ages Brewing Co. and more recently at the Ukrainian National Home.
With their transition indoors, Jackson, an SU senior, said the attendance rates have stayed consistent, with about 70 people continuously showing up. At their most recent event with the Ukrainian National Home, Jackson said he noticed a difference in the crowd demographics.
The Ukrainian National Home hosts other dancing events that Jackson has attended, since they have a large stage and sound system. They also have a bar and kitchen that people can grab food and drinks from in between dances, Jackson said.
“Our crowd is usually younger, lower classmen and students so having events in spaces with bars or restaurants brings in more of an elevated demographic,” Jackson said.
In the future, the brothers said they want to partner with other organizations with “good causes” they can support. The Ukrainian National Home is a nonprofit organization that is run completely by volunteers, who Jackson found to be super friendly and easy for them to partner with, he said.
Jacoby helped the brothers with the indoor transition and expanded Stoney’s social media presence. Jacoby met the brothers through SU’s Outing Club. On the bus ride back from a hike, she got talking with Xavier, and they worked together to come up with ways to grow their social media.
Stoney’s began to grow their social media platforms in December, with their TikTok page now reaching over 2,300 followers. The brothers post clips from their events and instructional line dancing videos for viewers to follow along with. Their most popular video, a tutorial of the dance to “Texas Time” by Keith Urban, gained more than 41,000 views.
The growth of the TikTok page has introduced them to people at other schools, bringing attendees to their events from places like Oswego and other SUNY schools, Jackson said.
“Our TikTok has started reaching a greater audience. I edit the videos to try and include all the steps. It’s reaching beyond the university community, which means it’s helping someone, and that’s what matters in all of this,” Jacoby said.
The location changes were also spurred on by winter weather. But the brothers didn’t want to have to stop dancing, said Jackson.
“We really wanted to keep going and keep up with the event because it’s something that we built a really nice community around and people have asked us to continue,” Jackson said.
Line dancing is typically associated with an older crowd. However, when Stoney’s Rockin’ Country Cuse took line dancing to the Ukrainian National Home, the group saw a younger demographic.. Courtesy of Audrey Becker
As members of the SU Western Equestrian team, the brothers learned that registered student organizations can rent spaces on campus for free or a small fee. Since Stoney’s are still working on becoming a RSO, the group partnered with the Western Equestrian team to host their first event, “Boots at the Barn,” at SkyBarn on South Campus on Dec. 13.
Their recent indoor events required a cover fee of $5, and all of the proceeds were used to pay for the space and donated to the equestrian team, Jackson said.
SU senior Thomas Condon attended several line dancing events that Stoney’s had last year, and more recently, “Boots at the Barn” in addition to the event at the Ukrainian National Home. For Condon, the $5 cover fee made his money’s worth.
“They take their time to slow things down and even help you one-on-one if you need it and $5 to have three hours of fun dancing is totally worth it,” Condon said.
Originally from California, Jacoby said she was always interested in line dancing but was never able to participate since most places require attendees to be 21 or older. She wanted to learn how to dance in a “low-stakes environment” where there was no pressure to be perfect, she said.
After attending her first line dancing event through Stoney’s, she said she found the community to be a safe environment that isn’t as scary as it seems.
“All of us are acting like fun and goofy, and us instructors make mistakes too, nobody’s perfect, and you can just let loose and have a bit of fun,” Jacoby said.
In the coming months, the Carriers and Jacoby are working to officially become an SU RSO to expand their outreach, Jacoby said. They are also planning an event for March where they hope to partner with a local country-rock band for a live music element, Jackson said.
Since attending Stoney’s in the fall, Condon has seen how the welcoming environment has accepted dancers with all experience levels. Even with very little experience, he said he found the lessons and instructors to be hands-on and attentive.
“Everyone is very welcoming and there either to learn or to spread the fun. Showing everyone that line dancing can be a great time whether you’re a beginner or have been a dancer for eight years,” Condon said.
