Departments
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Week of 17 September 1999 |
Vol. III, No. 6 |
Feature Article
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Students rehearse in a PERD
ballet class. Photo by
Kalman Zabarsky
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SFA offers new minor in dance
By Hope Green
Perfecting their shimmies, chassés, and jetés could soon be a grand leap toward a more prestigious transcript for students in BU's School for the Arts.
Starting this fall, SFA is offering its students a dance minor through a collaborative arrangement with the Department of Physical Education, Recreation, and Dance (PERD).
The new program was established in response to growing University-wide demand for PERD courses at the intermediate and advanced levels, says Micki Taylor-Pinney, the department's dance coordinator.
"For some students, performing and choreographing helps them feel more well-rounded," she says. "But there are also students who want to include dance as part of their academic training."
Eventually, Taylor-Pinney and instructor Judith Chaffee, SFA associate professor of theater arts, would like to see other BU schools and colleges offer the minor to their students. The added designation on a transcript, they say, could enhance students' training in a range of fields, including dance ethnology, movement therapy, and arts administration.
But for the near term, the dance instructors call SFA's approval of the minor a good start.
Among the first students to sign up for the program is acting major Wayne Wilcox (SFA'01). The Knoxville, Tenn., native has practiced a variety of dance styles since the age of 12, won high school dance competitions, and performed professionally at a theme park in Memphis. He has continued his dance training at PERD, starting with a high-intermediate modern dance course during his freshman year.
"As a dance minor, I will be learning a lot more than if I were to keep taking dance courses on the side," he says. "I want more class time and more attention, and I want to be graded so I know how I'm doing."
For many years, students throughout the University have been taking dance courses for credit, but on a pass-fail basis. That option will remain, while the dance-minor program will require students to complete 20 credits in dance theory, technique, and performance. The dance styles they will explore include ballet, modern, jazz, tap, and movement improvisation.
"I think dance should be recognized as more than a skill-based activity," says Taylor-Pinney, who also serves as artistic director of the Dance Collective in Boston and is an advisor to the student-run Dance Theatre Group. "It should be recognized as an art form and an educational activity, and as part of the study of our cultural history."