Dance Magazine: For many dancers, college offers a first opportunity to experiment with choreography and produce work for the stage. The availability of dancers, studio space and faculty guidance can give students a safe environment in which to try a new avenue of dance. Karen Stokes, director of the dance department at the University of Houston, encourages dancers to take advantage of choreographic opportunities, even if they’re new to the process of getting a completed work onstage: “Whether or not they end up producing their own work, through the process they learn time management and how to collaborate with other people,” she says. Because getting dance onstage extends beyond choreography, we asked recent dance majors for advice on what to keep in mind when producing work in a college setting for the first time.
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I think that these skills are very important to have. As a dancer, working with people who don’t understand how to manage their time during the choreography process, or how to collaborate with different people who actually have good ideas can be so annoying. Last year, my dance teacher was very into doing everything himself with no help from anyone, unless he literally didn’t know how to do said task. This would get really frustrating, as he would get super stressed out and get cranky when he shouldn’t have. He would never finish the choreography process on time, and always have to schedule tons of extra rehearsals on Saturday or Sunday mornings. Having to battle with a cranky 60 year old on one of my days off was always one of the worst experiences. Luckily, the younger teachers I had were good at choreographing with a group of high school girls, so I would always feel a lot better after those experiences.
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