Search results matching tag 'dance'

Re: Dance

BUOlivia — Wed, 04 Nov 2009 01:56:25 GMT

Ah, you must have been in my audition class! Were you the group that auditioned while the studio had been converted into a studio theater?

Deshanked shoes:

The only thing I think that was said was: "We wear deshanked shoes for technique classes. I had never worn them before I came here, and some girls complain about them, but they really don’t bother my feet at all. If you are having problems or pain or something, you just put on soft shoes for a few days for technique, and it’s fine. I didn’t wear deshanked shoes for about a month because I cracked my toe."

You don't go up on them. Um... They've not been pushing the deshanked shoes this year (I haven't heard anyone say anything about them), so some have reverted to soft shoes. I still wear deshanks because... several reasons, but I like them, so I wear them. I do not go en pointe in them.

Greek Life:

The quick answer: Well, I'm not Greek, and I don't feel shunned! :)

The long answer: There are a fair number of dancers who've gone Greek (and of those who did not), but Butler is a small campus and recruitment is in the spring, not immediately after freshman arrive. That way the new students get to experience "normal" college life first before deciding to rush, and they have the opportunity to make friends within their entire class. In fact, if you rush the second semester of the freshman year (the earlier possible), you still live in the same freshman dorm for the remainder of the year. Thus the famous Greek--non-Greek divide isn't as much of an issue at Butler because you retain those early friendships. Also, Greek life is pretty active, but it's not "huge." Because Butler is small, I feel like Greek life can't be huge. Everything on campus is so close together. We are all thrown together during class times anyway--at least, the dancers are.

Sure, those who are in Greek life are good friends, since they have to participate in so many activities together. But the same could be said of those non-Greeks who are in the same housing units or who have the same hobbies or whatever. There are groups, but they are not like the stereotypical high school "in" and "out" crowds. I feel that my (sophomore dancer) class is especially close. You have to be, since you take so many of your classes together.

It could also be said that those who are Greek are crazy busy. I know I wouldn't have time to live in a sorority, but then again, I feel like I am crazy busy as well. So basically, Greek life is not that important in terms of determining who your friends are because of the size of the campus and the time of recruitment, and you have plenty of other opportunities to get involved.

I hope this answers your question, and good luck with all your auditions!

Re: Dance

Emi — Fri, 17 Apr 2009 04:04:38 GMT

Hello dancers!

I wanted to add that even though it would be really difficult (almost impossible) to study abroad for a semester as a dance major, there are a few summer travel opportunities for dancers. This summer 16 dancers from Butler Ballet are going to Russia and Poland for a month to study the culture and history of Eastern Europe. They will dance everyday and they will perform several times in St. Petersburg and Warsaw. A downside of traveling and studying in the summer is that you do have to pay for it entirely, which can get expensive, but its an opportunity of a lifetime!

Re: Dance

BUOlivia — Thu, 16 Apr 2009 15:08:21 GMT

You auditioned on either a Friday or a Monday: We wear black leotards and pink tights on those days. On Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, and Saturday we can wear black or pink tights and colored leotards. The leotards are supposed to be all one color, though you can have differently colored trim. Actually, I have Yumi leo that has a different colored top part, and I wear that and it’s fine. This year, we can wear tights on the outside of our leotards if we want, but Michelle Jarvis (the head of the dance department) doesn’t really like it, I think. Well, I’m not wild about the look myself—I feel like it tends to enlarge certain areas! But sometimes I like to wear them outside just because it can be more comfortable. Anyway, I heard a rumor that we might have to wear tights inside on Mondays and Fridays next year. Not really a big deal.

I never really wear warm-ups in ballet class. I might leave a shirt on for the first combination at barre if it is freezing in the studio, but if you’re working hard, you warm up quickly enough. Sheer skirts are always fine. Shorts are not. In modern and jazz class, the rules vary slightly. The modern teacher is fine with warm ups as long as they are tight fitting: She has to be able to see your body (especially your back/spine), and she will make you take off anything that is too baggy. The jazz teacher is fine with warm-ups, though, again, I usually discard anything before too long because I get hot! I’ll wear jazz pants… Shorts… You get the picture.

Pointe shoes… that depends on your feet, of course! As a freshman, you will have a hour-long pointe class Monday and Wednesday, and you take your technique class on Friday en pointe. That doesn’t sound like a lot, but you can always put them on. It also depends on your rehearsal schedule. For example, I was in the Arabian dance for Nutcracker, and that was on pointe, so I had different amounts of rehearsal time in pointe shoes every week. For our Midwinter Dance Festival, the piece I was in (we were supposed to be aliens landing on a strange planet—it was very modern), I only had to wear flat shoes. So during that time, I would take center on pointe during our technique classes on Tuesdays and Thursdays, so I had some pointe every day: pointe class M W, center technique on pointe T R (R=Thursday), technique on pointe with the rest of my class F… We wear deshanked shoes for technique classes. I had never worn them before I came here, and some girls complain about them, but they really don’t bother my feet at all. If you are having problems or pain or something, you just put on soft shoes for a few days for technique, and it’s fine. I didn’t wear deshanked shoes for about a month because I cracked my toe.

Normal day: It varies. I’ve told Danielle my schedule, so I’m going to post that here for you if you dare read it all!

“What happens is that rehearsal is in your schedule a bit like another class. It's called "Butler Ballet." Butler Ballet meets Mon 4:30-5:30, Tues and Thurs 3:15-5:30, and Sat 8-5. They can call you for rehearsal at any time within this frame, which means you cannot schedule classes during those times since you're already in one! This week, I have rehearsal for Cinderella from 4:40-5:30 Monday and will have it Tuesday 3:30-4:30 and Thursday 2-3 (unusual--during lunch) and 4-4:30; Saturday is from 2-5. It changes every week and it changes depending on which parts you have.

My schedule (a good luck if you actually read all of this!):

8 am M W F Masterworks of Dance. Basically we watch ballets and talk about them and have quizzes on the choreographers, the composers, etc.

9 am M W Public Speaking. Ew.

9 am T R (R stands for Thursday in scheduling-lingo) Piano

10 am T R Body Placement. That's a bit like Pilates/Yoga. We also get nutrition and some anatomy.

10:20 am M F Modern class for an hour and a half

10 am W Professional Practices. That's sort of a grab bag class for anything the dance department wants to teach you. We've done lighting, copyrighting, injury...

11 am T R Jazz class

12:20 T R Ballet technique

1 pm M W F My English class

2 pm M W F Ballet technique

3:40 pm M W pointe class (we take technique en pointe on Fridays)

Then Butler Ballet at the times I already gave you…

Then 7-8:40 pm W is my honors class about Community, Ecology, and Design.”

Well, this week is not normal, since we are performing Cinderella. Dress rehearsal is tonight and the shows are Friday, Saturday, and Sunday, so my week looks very different from that right now.

Study abroad. I know it is possible. I know it is difficult. I have not even looked into it because, under ideal circumstances, I will graduate with a double major in Dance Performance and English Literature, and I will have completed the honors program. That’s probably not going to happen, but I don’t have time to study abroad. I have a dancer friend who was talking about it. If you want, I can ask her if she is still going to try to fit that in. You don’t have time to dance with other companies, and, frankly, I don’t think you would be able to find a job (i.e. a company willing to work with a college student’s finicky schedule) with the economy in such a shambles.

Graduating seniors: Let’s see. I think someone is going to Louisville Ballet. I think someone is going to Dance Kaleidoscope. Umm… I’m having a brain blip. If I think of any more, I’ll tell you.

I’m sorry that this turned into the mammoth post. If you have any more questions, feel free to ask! Good luck with your senior year.

Oh, and yes, my friend Emi is a freshman with me. She wants to know where you dance.

Re: Dance

BUKristen — Wed, 15 Apr 2009 18:36:38 GMT

If anyone is interested in seeing what the dance program is all about, go to: http://www.butler.edu/dance/?pg=6108&navID=17224

You can see what types of productions are put on each year, view the curriculum, and so much more. Ask these dancers for their experiences, they have a lot to share with you!

Dance

BUOlivia — Tue, 14 Apr 2009 23:14:08 GMT

Since I've been talking to Danielle about the ballet program at Butler, and I just heard that Kristi is joining our ranks next year, I thought I'd start a post for any dance-related questions so other people interested in the dance department can read them. For those of you who don't know me, I'm a freshman dance major eager to answer any questions you can throw at me!

And Kristi, my good dancer friend Emi is also from Northern Virginia, the DC area. She's from Falls Church. She also wrote for her school's newspaper and might double major in journalism. (I'm looking at an English major myself.) So you guys should get along really well. :)

Re: Summer Programs?

ChristinaL — Sun, 05 Apr 2009 03:52:45 GMT

Hey there!

I don't think we have a ton of programs for high school students, but there are a few:

Sports camps (not all for HS, but some are): http://www.butlersports.com/camps/butl-camps.html

English Department's Creative Writing Camp: http://www.butler.edu/english/index.aspx?pg=4621

Our dance program offers summer opportunities through their affiliate school, Jordan Academy of Dance: http://www.butler.edu/jcad/welcome.html

The music school has a similar program called the Butler Community Arts School: http://www.butler.edu/JCFA/community_arts.htm.

I am not sure about others, but they may exist, so hopefully other BU students and staff can chime in... was there a specific area you were interested in? I could investigate if you let me know!

Dance Pedagogy Auditions

molliedolan — Mon, 09 Feb 2009 15:20:16 GMT

I am a junior in high school and considering Butler to major in Dance Pedagogy. I would like information as to what the audition requires, and any preparation I could do to improve my dancing.

Re: Dance/Ballet at Butler

ChristinaL — Tue, 12 Feb 2008 01:45:14 GMT

Ha, okay so if anyone else has dance questions, my friend has agreed to be our Butler Ballet Advice Columnist (any catchy names for his column? please leave your suggestions.)

Here is his response for Olivia's questions:

Hello!

As Mrs. Jarvis (the head of the dance department put it) "Does it look like we do Balanchine here?" (while she overcrosses her legs and mocks Balanchine technique). That's a pretty definite no on the Balanchine. It all is pretty much Petipa/Vogonova technique that I'm sure you have heard a lot about.

As far as performing with Butler Ballet goes, it is pretty strongly balletic. We do two full length ballets a year: Nutcracker in the winter and one that changes every year in the Spring. Besides these two ballets, we do have Midwinter Dance Concert which is surprisingly Modern (and what I will be rehearsing for this week and you should definitely check out on Friday or Saturday). Midwinter usually has choreography done by several of the faculty members along with modern works that Butler Ballet buys and has set on dancers. We also bring in a guest choreographer such as James Kudelka or Stephen Mills to set new works on Butler Ballet dancers. This year we are doing Paul Taylor's Cloven Kingdom. Very modern, very dynamically different from ballet.

There are still many performance opportunities outside of Butler Ballet as well. Every Fall, we hold a student produced, student choreographed, student performed showing of choreography. Most of the pieces are usually contemporary and students are usually used in several pieces. Also, there is a specific choreography class that upper class men take and use the under class men to set the choreography on. There is also a showing from this class in the Spring (on March 6th and 7th this year if you are interested).

That's pretty much the general feeling of dance here at Butler. Very balletic with hints of modern. I do want to be a modern dancer when I leave this school and feel that the training I receive here will have me prepared. If that's any help to you:)

Let me know if you have any more questions.

I hope this helps, Olivia! Really don't hesitate to ask if you have any more questions. The dancers love to talk about their program. I can also track down some other opinions if anyone wants to know if being a girl or having a double major or being an Arts Admin Dance major is very different from this guy's experience.

Re: Dance/Ballet at Butler

ChristinaL — Mon, 04 Feb 2008 20:29:19 GMT

Hey Balletgirl!

I am an English major and don't know too much about the program, but I asked one of my dance major friends and this is what he said:

"Class sizes are generally small. When they audition, they will take class with two separate levels which will give them a good idea as to what the class sizes are. But generally, there are about 20-25 dancers in each level, it does fluctuate. As far as the ballet training goes, it's pretty Vagonova, definitely not Balanchine, with maybe a hint of Checketti from a few of the teachers.

General information: LOTS OF PERFORMANCE OPPORTUNITIES. Ha ha, I was just thinking about that one today, actually. It's pretty strict ballet. If you are looking for a school with a good modern program, you might want to look elsewhere, though our modern classes are very technically good. But, that's about pretty much what I notice."

I hope this helps! If you have more questions, let me know and I will ask him or another dancer.