DanceWorks Always Delivers!
At this time of the year dance teachers come to an important realization...seniors are grad-uating! Senior students often set the tone of the entire studio. Their dedication and superior dance ability keep younger students motivated. Their habits good and bad will trickle down to younger dancers. They confidently walk around the studio like they own the place, a feeling that comes from having a second home for years. However, by the spring, even the most self-assured senior has to tackle a difficult question, "Will I be dancing next year?"
Students spend the entire year profes-sing sentiments such as "I can't wait to leave high school," and " I am so outta here in the fall," but they find themselves trying to cope with losing their dance community along with all the things they actually are ready to lose. Moving on with their education means moving past all the aspects of studio life they love. As their final year progresses they face their "last holiday show," "last regional competition," and "last recital," putting them closer to a time where how much, and if they dance at all, will not rely on their teacher but on themselves, and their personal drive. Students wonder if after being comfortable in the same atmosphere, they will adjust to a college program that will be completely different. To dance teachers, students express concerns about college dance, time and again. "Will the program be all modern?", "Will I have time to participate with school to worry about?" "Is it worth it to dance in college if I do not plan on pursuing dance professionally?" These are not large concerns for my students because they have been introduced to a group of girls whose college dance experience was the best time of their lives.
Last year members of my senior company took a road trip to Syracuse, NY to participate as special guests in Syracuse University's DanceWorks senior showcase. DanceWorks is Syracuse's largest club sport and biggest performance opportunity on campus. The student run dance organization typically sells out 3,000 seats at the spring show. They have made a huge name for itself on a campus that is renowned for superior athletics. Every fall more than 450 hopeful dancers audition to be part of the group; only about 120 will be selected. The organization remains of widespread interest because it retains a huge diversity in styles of dance ranging from ballet to hip-hip hop and African. The innovative choreography, variance of styles, and talented performers made for an amazing performance and a wonderful education experience for my dance company. Wide-eyed throughout the whole performance they all left with the same plan: We will dance in college!
More impressive even than the actual show is the time, effort and enthusiasm that goes into creating stellar performances that DanceWorks is famous for. After talking to three student directors past and present, Betsy Sherwood, Christina Apostal, and Kendra-Lee Rosati, I learned how much work goes into the performance, and the organization throughout the year. Although they have a faculty advisor, student leaders are in charge of all the major aspects of the organization from holding auditions, selecting choreographers, booking the show, and scheduling outside events. As a result, DanceWorks student leaders learn how to lead all aspects of arts business; creative and administrative.
The journey to learn dance business begins with auditions. First, perspective choreographers audition in hopes that their pieces will be selected for the show. As many as 60 choreographers may audition and only about 18 pieces will be selected. Dancers work to come up with an original concept, interesting music selection, and intricate staging ideas in hopes of being selected. This processes teaches dancers to think outside their comfort zone, and be their own PR director; dancers sell themselves to the DanceWorks elected board, who choose choreographers. If a dancer is one of the lucky few selected it will become their responsibility to design a 30 minute audition to choose dancers for their piece. After the intense audition process to select dancers for their pieces, the student choreographers takeover and try to bring their visions to life. They schedule rehearsals, work within a budget, select their own costumes, devise a lighting plan, and create original choreography. This would be no sweat for a seasoned choreographer or studio director, but in DanceWorks choreographers are often college sophomores. This is a huge task! The organization is essentially a blending of dancers from all different backgrounds. DanceWorks represents dancers with different strengths. This creates an incredible performance, but the choreographer goes through the difficult task of making the dancers move together to express the choreographer's overall intention.
At the same time all the artistic elements fall into place student leaders such as producers, directors, and the board, navigate their way through bus-iness aspects of the show. With often nothing but a "bible" ( Rosati named the notebook, a handbook of things that need to be done and when, from last year's directors), student leaders learn every aspect of putting on a performance from ticket sales, booking the venue, getting the show reviewed, leading dress rehearsal, and organizing backstage and lighting. This is often an exciting experience rather than simply hard work. According to Sherwood, "Before DanceWorks I always loved dance because of the way performing made me feel. This is the first time that I realized I could be just as fulfilled focused on helping other people. You don't have to be directly involved with performing to feel wonderful. You can watch other people experience joy themselves."
There will always be difficult moments in any worthwhile experience. All directors cited balancing being a friend and a leader as a tricky issue at times. Feelings are hurt when casting decis-ions are made, and dancers not living up to their responsibilities have to be let go. Despite difficult moments the lessons learned are positive. Directors contend that the strong friendships established make any challenges along the way worth the struggle. According to former director, Christina Apostal, "Most people enter DanceWorks not knowing anyone but throughout the process of putting together a phenomenal show you leave with really strong relationships. Outside of Greek life most students don't get to experience such an unbreakable bond." For some students DanceWorks is a factor in attending the University. Kendra-Lee Rosati explains, "DanceWorks has been my family away from home, and I have met some of my best friends here. One of my dancers from this year wrote me a card telling me how she had felt lost and without a place at Syracuse, but finding DanceWorks helped her find her way. She know longer wants to leave this school and she can't wait to be more involved with the organization."
When I asked the directors if they felt DanceWorks prepared them for work in or out of the dance field after college the answers were extremely positive. Rosati said of DanceWorks, " Though student run it is a professional organization. It has taught me leadership skills and given me confidence. I truly hope after I graduate I will continue to dance. Even if I don't, being a part of DanceWorks has helped me hone skills that will help in every aspect of my life..." The other directors had var-iations of these same sentiments. In fact Betsy Sherwood explained to me that DanceWorks prepared her directly for her current job. She is now a casting director for Broadway shows, which she says is "DanceWorks on a larger scale." A day for Betsy involves aud-itioning dancers, keeping their spirits up through the process, and lots of organization.
According to Sherwood, "I was in communications in college. However, most of the skills I use now are skills I acquired at DanceWorks. My extra-curricular activity meant more than my classroom work."
After the directors elaborated on how much their college dance experience has meant to them, I wondered what advice they would give to high school juniors and seniors hoping to make the next few years a fun learning exper-ience. Apostal said, "If you love to dance you should find a way to dance. If you know you really want to dance in college you should check out some performances first so you do not go in blindly. Remember though, any program is as strong as you make it. If there isn't a program you are proud of on your campus, find ways to start your own company, or encourage everyone in the program to work harder so the program gets a better reputation. At DanceWorks we dedicate ourselves to improve every year." One thing is for certain, whatever these young people aspire to become in the future, DanceWorks gave them the leadership tools and the confidence to live their dreams. Every young dancer who wants to continue dance beyond their studio should not shy away because of college stereotypes; maybe their most exciting performance is just around
the corner!