Because job security can be hard to come by in the dance world, there’s an understandable appeal to full-time professorships in college and university dance programs. The path to get there can seem elusive, however—and the requirements of the job extend beyond teaching and choreography. Two dance professors—Jason Ohlberg, Skidmore College associate professor and associate […]
As a certified intimacy professional who creates practices and choreography for scenes of vulnerability (including simulated sex and/or nudity in film, TV, theater, dance, and opera), I’m aware that the power dynamics of performance traditions do not allow for the less powerful performers to take creative risks, feel agency over their bodies, or ask questions. […]
Last fall, Chauna Sumpter and her daughter Carrington Hope Mason—then a high school senior—flew from Southern California to New York City to attend Dancewave Through College and Beyond. Over the course of a few days, Mason took college-level master classes, attended an audition, and spoke with faculty members and representatives of dozens of university dance […]
Last Friday, the University of the Arts in Philadelphia announced it would be shutting down as of June 7. The Philadelphia Inquirer reported that a steep drop in enrollment left the nearly 150-year-old school in such a deep financial crisis that the accrediting agency abruptly withdrew its charter. Many students and faculty found out through the Inquirer’s coverage, and only got […]
With Valentine’s Day just around the corner, I find myself thinking about the dynamics of partnering. We know that teaching partnering protocol can be complicated because you must teach what it’s like to partner and do the partnering, as well. So in our Technique & Artistry column this month, we’re offering you tips on preparing […]
The story took flight with a chance encounter at the 60th Street post office in Manhattan. It was the mid-’90s and Denise Jefferson, then head of The Ailey School, and Edward Bristow, then dean of Fordham College at Lincoln Center, would often bump into each other in the neighborhood. At that point, both schools were […]
“Ballet was my first language; it was my first love,” recalls Butler University dance professor Susan McGuire. But after being moved by a performance of Diversion of Angels by the Martha Graham Dance Company, McGuire pivoted to a career in modern dance, eventually joining the esteemed institution as a soloist in 1973. She went on to […]
On a cool September evening in Alameda, California, I and over a hundred Bay Area residents gathered in the parking lot of the Alameda Free Library. The innocuous space, seemingly universal in its purpose and design, was once part of a thriving tonarigumi—an historic Japantown neighborhood. As part of a community art walk to honor […]
For the aspiring dance professor, the master of fine arts in dance is a baseline hiring requirement. MFAs are also terminal degrees, meaning they’re the highest possible degree offered in fine arts at universities around the world. The achievement launches many candidates not just into academia but also into careers in choreography, performance, arts administration […]
Since March, hundreds of dance majors have been using platforms like Zoom to continue their educations, dancing from the safety of their homes as coronavirus has swept the nation. What many educators initially hoped would be a temporary setback—a few weeks of online learning before a triumphant return to in-person classes—has turned out to be […]