Dance Student Opportunities
The dance minor at Carthage connects dancers to a variety learning opportunities both on and off-campus.
Performances
Each year, Carthage dancers have opportunities to participate in two dance productions. The Fall Dance Concert features works by regional and national dance artist, dance minor faculty, and selected works by Carthage emerging choreographers. The Fall Dance Concert is a fully produced dance production in collaboration with Carthage theatre department faculty and student designers.
The annual spring production of “Away From The Mirror” features works by the dance minor’s emerging choreographers. This production provides a platform for dancers to develop dance works, share in the development of their own production, and engage in community discourse about their work. “Away From The Mirror” emphasizes the dance-making process. Works in the program are presented as drafts at different stages of development through a series of feedback showings leading up to the performances. Each feedback showing provides opportunities for dancers to learn through faculty mentorship and peer response.
Auditions for both the fall and spring dance productions are open to any Carthage dancer, regardless of their status as a dance minor. Dancers wishing to choreograph for either production must be a dance minor.
lEADERSHIP oPPORTUNITIES
The Carthage Dance Program is institutionally affiliated with the National Dance Education Organization (NDEO). NDEO promotes dance education in variety of sectors in the United States, including k-12 public schools, colleges and universities, and dance studios. The organization also provides a network for independent dance teaching artists, performers, writers and researchers.
Carthage’s NDEO Student Chapter promotes dance education on and off campus through activities that celebrate the role dance plays in our lives, including on campus workshops, dance camps for local youth, and field trips to see off campus performances in Chicago and Milwaukee. Dance minors who are active NDEO Student Chapter members have the opportunity to graduate with honors through the National Honor Society of Dance Arts (NHSDA).
Read more about student organizations
Focused Coursework
The Carthage Dance Program and Theatre Department offer variable topics courses designed to enhance learning experiences through specific research inquiries. Variable topics courses allow students opportunities to study styles of dance not usually offered at Carthage while addressing specific skills that can prepare students interested in dance, theatre, musical theatre, and sports sciences for greater success in their fields of study. Past variable topics courses have included Bharatnatyam and Urban Styles as well as Dance Partnering Techniques and Dance Conditioning.
Legacy Works
Carthage dancers have taken root in the tradition of American modern dance through Legacy Works that have been developed by dance pioneers and shared through the Dancing Legacy’s Repertory Etudes Instructional Collection. Through the inclusion of Repertory Etudes™ in past productions, Carthage dancers have learned about influential American dance artists while being introduced to early modern dance technique lineages.
Carthage dance productions have featured Robert Battle’s Battleworks Etude, the dynamic Parsons Etude by David Parsons, and Rainbow Etude based on Donald McKayle’s masterwork, Rainbow ‘Round My Shoulder. Legacy Works have proven to be challenging performance pieces for Carthage dancers and have deepened our understanding of the impact of dance in American culture.
conferences
Carthage dance minors attend the Wisconsin Dance Council Professional Development Conferences and the American College Dance Festival Conferences. Both events allow our dancers to immerse in a range of dance experiences, including movement classes, research presentations, adjudicated performances, critical response sessions, networking opportunities and leadership.
“Experiences like attending the American College Dance Festival Association’s North Central Conference every year bridge the community our students have at Carthage with a larger community, which opens up a whole range of possibilities for the students,” says dance instructor Professor Stacy Pottinger.
Guest Artists
Guest artists bring a variety of new styles and approaches to the Carthage learning environment. Their time with Carthage dancers offers concentrated opportunities for artistic growth and development while bridging the academic environment nurtured at Carthage with multiple professional dance communities.