Dance is less of a profession and more of a passion that draws artists early in life—and often down the road they’re encouraged to give up the passion for more practical endeavors.
But faculty and students at the University of California-Irvine’s dance department in the Claire Trevor School of the Arts think they buck a long-term trend. The dance department trains undergraduate and graduate students for opportunities such as performance, choreography, teaching and physical therapy. Many grads start their own dance companies. Others perform on Broadway, on cruise ships, and in renowned dance companies across the world.
The recent addition of an online certificate in arts management helps prepare dancers, along with other UCI students, for other careers. In February, the Paul Merage School of Business joined with Claire Trevor to offer the program.
From a business perspective, UCI’s dance department prepares students to critically and creatively think and to collaborate—necessary skills to succeed in any profession, department chair Lisa Naugle said.
“We’re training dancers to be global citizens, to work alone and together in problem solving,” she said.
Elise Holmes, a sophomore dance major who plans to double-major in biology, agrees. She chose UCI’s dance department over the University of California-Santa Barbara’s because she saw UCI’s program as broader, with a higher caliber faculty and more opportunities to dance abroad.
“I expected good training and performance opportunities but was not aware of the extra opportunities to work with faculty,” she said.
Unique and Growing
UCI’s dance department admitted a record number of freshmen this year, Naugle said. While the average is 35, this year it accepted 56.
It’s growing because UCI has the reputation of being “one of the best dance programs in the country” and because “there’s a lot of really good dancers coming [out of] this program,” Naugle said.
To get into the dance department, students have to be accepted into UCI. Then they audition for the department to be accepted into the dance major.
UCSB and the University of California-Riverside also have dance departments. Chapman University’s College of Performing Arts has a department of dance offering both a B.A. and a BFA in dance and dance performance. The University of California-Los Angeles offers a B.A. in dance through its department of world arts and culture.
One of the things that sets UCI apart from other UC schools, Naugle said, is the opportunity to perform locally and internationally. Dance faculty members Tong Wang, John Crawford and Kelli Sharp mentored 10 students for a recent performance in Shanghai at the East Meets West Festival. The year before, Chinese dance students came to UCI.
Naugle and Wang started a China initiative in 2014 to facilitate the exchanges. To that end, UCI is currently working on a more formal exchange agreement with Shanghai Normal University, Naugle said.
Wellness and Prevention
Sharp is an assistant professor of dance and co-director of I-move at UCI’s Sue & Bill Gross Stem Cell Research Center. At the center, she uses a motion capture system to analyze how to reduce injuries. She also helps develop technologies for rehabilitation of patients with neurological disorders, using motion capture and functional magnetic resonance, or fMRI, along with dance/movement therapy.
One of her goals in the dance department is to help dancers see themselves and their bodies as a depreciating asset that they need to have in peak physical condition for as many years as possible to maximize earnings.
“Without Pilates and some understanding of their own anatomy, their career will not last,” she said. “We stress that they have to be individual caretakers. They’re responsible for themselves for the rest of their careers.”
A physical therapist with a dance background is also part of the dance department staff.
Technology
UCI was one of the first dance departments to get a motion-capture studio, Naugle said. The department has been integrating technology over the past 15 years and has been able to create “groundbreaking” research using a tool known as telepresence, she added. Telepresence is a form of robotic remote control that gives people the sense of being in another location—resembling virtual reality.
Recently UCI’s dance department connected with New York City dance companies Martha Graham Dance and Mark Morris Dance in collaboration with New York University. The project, “Heart of Dance,” was spearheaded by UCI Distinguished Professor Lar Lubovitch. The artistic director and choreographer joined the department last year.
Lubovitch maintains his Lar Lubovitch Dance Company in New York City and teaches UCI students remotely while also making trips to teach on campus.
Crawford is a professor of dance and media arts, as well as associate dean of research creation at Claire Trevor. He wears many hats, including media artist and “interaction designer,” working at the intersection of software, digital media and performance. He uses computers and video to create animation and motion graphics to integrate with dance.
Opportunities
UCI dance students get to show off their talent by performing and choreographing four department-sponsored concerts. The graduate students put on “New Slate” in the fall. In the winter, students are selected to perform in faculty-choreographed pieces for “Dance Visions.”
In the spring there are two concerts: the graduate student-choreographed “Dance Escape” and “Physical Graffiti,” where rotating faculty mentors audition students and select eight to 10 of their newly choreographed works.
Junior Edgar Aguirre, pursuing a BFA in choreography, said the opportunity to choreograph is one of the best parts about being at UCI. He especially appreciates the opportunity to perform in Donald McKayle’s Etude Ensemble as part of the “Dance Visions” concert. McKayle, a UCI professor emeritus of dance, was honored at the John F. Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C., in 2005 with a medal for Master of African American Choreography.
“I’m learning a lot from his choreography,” Aguirre said. “I’m (also) learning world history and dance.”
Many alums go on to perform at ballet companies, such as Chicago’s Joffrey Ballet and Manhattan’s Metropolitan Opera ballet. Broadway has also beckoned with alums performing in notable shows, such as “Newsies,” “Wicked” and “Jersey Boys.”
