Problems Only a Dancer Could Understand

All About the Department of Dance at The College of Brockport

     As the weeks go by, I've been thinking of interviewing some people that are involved with the dance department here at The College of Brockport. But before I do that I thought it would be interesting to just talk briefly about the department in general.
   
     The Department of Dance is housed in the entire three floors of the south wing in                            Hartwell Hall. Included in this space are the 280-seat  Hartwell Dance Theater and the 250-seat Rose L. Strasser Studio performance space. There's a wide opportunity for students, faculty and guest artists to choreograph, perform, and present work. Five spacious studios with audio and video capability, grand piano and sprung floors for classes and rehearsals seven days a week. The dance facilities include men's and women's dressing rooms and lockers, a dance conditioning room, heated health pool with barres and jets, costume shop and an extensive library collection for dance research.

    
     The Department of Dance at The College at Brockport is made up of artists, scholars, and educators who train dancers on the graduate and undergraduate level for a wide variety of careers in the arts as choreographers, performers, teachers, scholars, and leaders in the dance field. The students in the department’s highly selective degree programs excel not only in the studio and on stage, but also as critical thinkers, writers and teachers.

     Undergraduates with a strong foundation of dance training are invited to participate in the program by auditioning to enroll as dance majors or minors in the BA or BS programs, and are eligible to apply to the BFA program in the second semester. Additionally, the department offers three graduate degrees and serves a large number of students through courses that fulfill General Education requirements.

    
     If a student wishes to minor in dance they must pass a department audition. Three auditions are scheduled each year. The department also offers many non major dance courses which are open to students in all degree programs - no audition is required for this option.

     One of the first things one sees when they view the home page for Brockport's Department of Dance are the words "As a Brockport dancer you will excel not only as a mover and a maker, but as a thinker." As an outsider looking in, I truly believe that to be true.

  

Biodance

Forever a Dancer

     Hello and welcome to Forever in Arabesque! Let me start by saying that I've always wanted to do a blog but was stuck on what I should write about. I was given advice to write what I was passionate about. As I thought about what that was, my mind always came back to dance.
     I started taking dance lessons when I was about six years old and stopped when I was about 21. Even though I don't remember how I felt when I first started, I remember how I felt when I stopped. The feelings I had were sadness but acceptance. 
     I stopped for a silly reason which was I thought I was getting to old. However, what I know now is something I didn't know then and that is you are NEVER to old to dance. Not a day goes by without me either thinking about dance or doing a random dance move somewhere. I even find myself thinking of choreography (which I was never good at no matter how hard I tried to focus on it) as I am listening to music in my car.
     What I want to do is capture the passion in those that have a love for dance like I do. The hope is to interview dancers that are just starting out to dancers that are dancing for a living. My goal is to make my readers feel the excitement that every dancer feels once they are up on stage performing.
     The picture below is of me in my first dance costume. While I don't remember the whole dance, I remember bits and pieces like performing it on stage and I even believe there was a song that my friends and I had to sing while we were up on that great big stage. I also remember the feeling I had  after leaving that stage...it was the feeling of wanting to do the dance again.

My first dance as a Marilyn Schneider School of Dance Dancer