Last week while at the National Dance Education Organization Conference, I realized we attendees were just a sliver of dance education and were not talking about the field and its actual scope. Many tracks were not present. In addition, we never addressed the issue that students cross and combine tracks; I talked to some of the students of the public school programs, and found out that roughly 50% of them were also taking classes at private studios, interested in commercial as well as concert dance, and wanted to choreograph works that expressed their complex identities and experiences.
What I am about to present may seem a dangerous exercise in stereotyping, but the intent is actually the opposite. As generalizing as this may be, I hope to bring an awareness of entry points and barriers in the field, and I encourage you to clarify what you see as the value & weaknesses of all pathways in dance education. I hope my inaccuracies provoke good dialogue.
As dance educators, we will encounter students on all different tracks and curved roads. We cannot and should not dismiss an arm of our sector just because we disagree with it, or don’t understand it. Millions of children in this country are dancing; they and their teachers all have merit.
TRACK ONE: #smalltownbigdreams
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Photo by Flickr users, Jim Mullhaupt and Andrew Dallos
Age 3, Miss Molly’s Dance Dynamics once a week for tap and pre-ballet.
Age 6, Miss Molly’s Dance Dynamics twice a week for tap, ballet, jazz, contemporary, tumbling.
Age 7, at Star Systems in the nearest big city, your first competition, you receive Platinum scores and win your category, placing 3rd overall solo for your age bracket. Two weeks later…at Headliners, you are 1st place Overall!!! And the Petite Miss Headliner Regional Title Winner!!!
Age 12, go undefeated in all regional competitions as well as nationals, add on special teachers and physical therapy.
Age 14, while your parents budget for the entry fees, costumes, makeup, shoes, private lessons and travel costs, you learn new styles and combinations on YouTube (SYTYCD, DM).
Age 16, start working on audition skills, headshots, etc.
Age 18, audition and work for cruiselines, music videos, Las Vegas shows, amusement parks, professional sports teams, Rockettes, and more.
Age 22, major in chemistry and donate the trophies and costumes to charity.
Age 26, work locally and, as a secondary job, return to Miss Molly’s Dance Dynamics as a teacher.
Age 29, join Headliners organization as a judge, touring the country.
TRACK TWO: #gottalovethestandards
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Photos by Flickr users, alyssa.becker and The Arts at USF
Pre-school, dance routine for the school holiday show, where dad says you were the best.
2nd Grade, creative movement in school, exploring non-locomotor/axial movements, locomotor movements and pathways to create a sequence with a beginning, middle, and an end based on weather patterns. View a dance film and relate it to literature.
5th grade, dance integrated into your math class and now, with it in your body, math makes more sense.
Age 13, audition into the public high school dance company, where you dance nearly every school day and learn about use of weight in transitions, dance history, composition, anatomy, world dances, good health habits in dance, constructive criticism, and more. Start classes at a private studio as well.
Age 16, consider a dance career.
Age 17, attend Monroe Community College and transfer to the state university.
Age 20, dance with a local company while pursuing a nursing career and teaching Zumba classes.
Age 24, start to offer dance workshops for seniors and ongoing classes for children.
TRACK THREE A: #respectthebun
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Photos by Flickr users, Kymberly Janisch and Kent G Becker
Age 3, Miss Molly’s Dance Dynamics once a week for tap and pre-ballet.
Age 6, change to the Academy of Ballet in the next town over in order to have more focus on ballet.
Age 14, attend pricey summer intensives for advanced pointe and partnering (on scholarship but still ponying up for related costs), meet Misty Copeland in person.
Age 17, train, train, train, audition for apprenticeships.
Age 20, become ensemble member of a regional ballet company, living out your dream.
Age 28, retire from professional dance and get your degree in engineering.
TRACK THREE B: #respecttheform
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Photos by Flickr users, Aesthir and fsiddi
Age 11, excel in track & field.
Age 13, you have to take a dance class in school and realize you love it, work hard and take classes wherever you can.
Age 18, major in dance in college, studying Cunningham, Graham, Horton, somatic practices, dance history, kinesiology, composition, dance teaching, and more. Wonder why there are labels such as traditional, folkloric, and ethnic.
Age 22, build a network of friends in professional modern dance, Butoh, and performance art in the region.
Age 26, become a company member of a midsize dance company, living out your dream but paying back your student loans.
Age 28, start to choreograph and produce your own work questioning what is classic, what is colonial.
Age 30, MFA
Age 33, get hired for a teaching position at Benefits University and start talking about that family you want.
Age 37, get Laban and CMA certified, pursue a tenured position.
TRACK FOUR: #broadwaybaby
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Photo by Flickr users, Aundrea Arias and Felippe Paiva
Age 3, Miss Molly’s Dance Dynamics once a week for tap and pre-ballet.
Age 6, Miss Molly’s Dance Dynamics three times per week for tap, ballet, jazz/musical theatre and tumbling.
Age 10, get serious about acting and voice lessons.
Age 16, star in your high school’s production of 42nd Street.
Age 18, take workshops on auditioning tips, consider getting an agent.
Age 20, star in your university’s production of Brigadoon.
Age 22, circles of showcases, auditions, agents, moving apartments.
Age 26, land a role in Thoroughly Modern Millie on Broadway, join the union.
Age 29, land a role in the touring production of Hedwig and the Angry Inch. but your family is not sure what to make of it.
TRACK FIVE: #borntodance
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Photos by Flickr users, T 13 and Contemporary Dance Theater
Age 3, show off your moves at the family picnic and mom puts you on YouTube.
Age 6, start taking classes from Benny at the community center in animation, locking, b-boying, house, and more.
Age 12, your crew competes at VIBE XX.
Age 17, participate in your first real cypher.
Age 20, get a job at a local performance venue, teach on the side, start a family.
Age 25, land a few huge but short gigs around the US including dancing on the Grammies and an Off-Broadway fundraiser.
Age 27, dance with Rennie Harris RHAW and tour the country and 3 countries.
Age 30, take one year to tour judging dance competitions / teaching at conventions as the “hip hop” representative.
Age 31, return to teach at the community center.
Age 36, build your own organization.
TRACK FIVE: #danceislife
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Photos by Flickr users, mara and Maurice Pirotte
Age 3, Miss Molly’s Dance Dynamics once a week for a year of tap and pre-ballet.
Age 6, undergo a dose of trauma (disease, war, jail, loss of a parent, abuse, disempowerment, poverty, violence, homelessness…)
Age 12, meet a teaching artist who “gets you” as you struggle with your identity as a Latino-Arab person coming of age in contemporary America.
Age 18, consider getting your minor in dance but decide to go for the B.A. program. Create your own pieces for the student choreography concerts.
Age 20, choreograph for local and regional festivals.
Age 28, be selected for individual artist awards, small grants, and residencies.
Age 33, consider filing for 501c3 status and offer workshops for young people in the area.
TRACK SIX: #danceasheritage
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Photos by Flickr users, David Yu and Victoria Pickering
Age 6, auntie gets you a spot in the Chinese American Community Center Folk Dance Troupe.
Age 12, want to quit but friend convinces you to keep going,
Age 19, you win the Miss Chinatown USA Pageant while double majoring in philosophy/economics.
Age 25, tour the world as the member of an “ethnic dance” company.
Age 28, teach at the Chinese American Community Center when you have time in your busy schedule.
There are several other important tracks not explored here, including the domains of recreational and park district programs, dance for athletes, praise and liturgical dancers, ballroom dancers, tappers, pow-wow dancers, steppers, vogue dancers, burlesque and go-go performers, carnival/samba dancers, improvisers, swing dancers, bellydancers, flamenco artists, Mexican folkloric dancers, Bharatanatyam dancers, cloggers, Irish step dancers, non-dance choreographies, and so many more.
Dance is everywhere. Dancers in some of these tracks swim in a pool of popularity and dollars. Others swim in waters of relevance and reciprocity. Some value competition, others collaboration. At the end of the day, we are dancing circles around one another and have to find a way to move together towards change and progress.
