In hopes to have more of these posts, our first comes from former company member Lainie Bailey, who is studying at the University of Pennsylvania & dancing with the universities dance troupe, Penn Dance.
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What it’s like to be involved in a higher education dance group
What I didn’t know going into college was just how much independence you have. Especially for me, being almost a thousand miles from home, the shock was pretty profound. I expected not having to be told when to go to sleep, but now no one regulated my meals, my time spent on homework, or how much I interacted with people. If I had chosen to, I could have stayed in my room for months at a time. It’s a pretty scary time, being so far from home with so much to control.
I found comfort in dancing, as I always did in middle and high school. In college, however, there was so much more to do! Dancing groups ranged from Latin Ballroom to Funk to Traditional African, Asian, and Indian styles of dance. Penn Dance, the group I chose, is the University of Pennsylvania’s oldest dance troupe and is primarily a modern company. I’ve also taken workshops with other styles of dance.
At the University, dance groups are all student-run—that means from everything to getting rehearsal and performance space, organizing schedules and classes, choreographing and advertising for shows is done by students in the group, amidst school work and social lives. Not only are we more independent individually, but we are also more independent as a group. And while we have a professional artistic director, Rachel Kantra Beal, who teaches ballet and modern to the group, we don’t have a teacher like Ms. Beam who is there to help us become better dancers by giving corrections and reminding us of what we should be thinking during an exercise. You must become more disciplined and know yourself enough to know what you need to improve.
The best advice I could give to my dance peers at VDT would be to take responsibility for your own progress. The teachers at VDT are fantastic to learn from—you will be as thankful for them after high school as I am. They are always there for you, but you yourself must be your best motivator. Don’t wait for someone else to tell you what you should do to be a better dancer—see it for yourself and do it for yourself!
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