Hobart and William Smith Colleges

20 April 2010 Dancers Attend Conference

Assistant Professor of Dance Michelle Ikle and 13 William Smith students recently attended the Northeast Conference of the American College Dance Festival Association at Mercyhurst College, in Erie, Pa. The four-day conference hosted approximately 500 dancers, teachers, choreographers and musicians. Participants chose among 85 classes/workshops and attended four adjudicated concerts and two informal concerts. Ikles work Landscapes: Explorations with fabric and Glass, which premiered last spring in the Colleges Faculty Dance Concert, was reworked and in the words of one adjudicator was expertly danced by Lauren Budd 10, Bethany Fagan 10, Caitlyn Schrader 10, Rebecca Fry 11, Nichole Geary 11, Rachel McKeon 11, Rebecca Borsuk 11 and Kathryn Bowering 11. Additionally, Kimberly Tremlett 10 was an understudy.

Bowering and Geary presented their duet, Groovin' in the Student Informal Concert. Ikle presented Tempted in the Faculty Informal Concert. Ikle also taught a class in intermediate/advanced jazz dance technique and a workshop in somatic integration called Finding Balance. Other students on the trip, which was sponsored by the Dance Department, were Gabrielle Brigida 10, Samantha Dighton 11, Katherine Marino 11 and Alex Cragg 14.

The curriculum of the Dance Department is designed to be a basis for graduate study or careers in the areas of choreography, performance, teaching, dance administration and movement science.

The dance major has three tracks to choose from: a traditional, disciplinary performance-based focus, an interdisciplinary dance studies concentration, or an individually designed major. The dance major and minor may be either disciplinary or interdisciplinary, depending on the courses selected.