Dance at UWSP
This is an extraordinary time for UWSP's
Dance program. Beginning in Fall 2005 the dance program will move to world
class dance facilities in the $26 million Noel Fine Arts Center addition.
River North Dance Chicago will join us for a week-long residency of
technique and repertory master classes during September. Our two new studios
have professionally sprung floors with maple and Harlequin Cascade surfaces,
expansive windows, state of the art sound, video and projection systems, and
a convertible informal performance lab. Dancers are provided with locker
rooms, shower facilities, and a warm up area. The Noel Fine Arts Center
houses computer labs for multimedia editing; additional computer labs for
student use are located in each academic building on campus.
UWSP's Dance program is dedicated to training dancers in a range of
technical styles and physical abilities. Our core curriculum features
ballet, jazz, tap, modern, theatre dance, dance composition, and theoretical
studies. New faculty member Jeannie Hill, Associate Artistic Director of
Chicago's Jump Rhythm Jazz Project, adds JRJ technique. Our
interdisciplinary seminar features camera dance, digital video editing, and
integrates dance with other art forms and academic disciplines. The broad
range of our curriculum provides dancers with many opportunities to perform,
design, choreograph, light, costume, teach, write, create multimedia work,
and present original research. UWSP educates thinking dancers who are
prepared to create and innovate in the dance field and beyond.
In recent years UWSP's Dance program has received a National College
Choreography Initiative (NCCI) Grant, and premiered internationally
acclaimed choreographer and multimedia artist Margarita Bali's evening
length work Zoom In, Look Out.
Dance Spirit Magazine recognized our program as one of the
top 25 in the country, and Dance Teacher magazine highlighted the
interdisciplinary aspects of our curriculum.
Admission and Scholarships
To be eligible for admission to
UWSP's Dance major or minor programs, prospective students must be admitted
to UWSP as full-time students before their assigned audition date. Students
must then successfully complete an on-campus performance audition and
interview with UWSP's dance faculty. Audition dates for Fall 2006
admission are February 17, 24 and March 3, 2006. Scholarships are awarded to
qualified high school seniors based on ability and potential in dance.
Detailed application information and materials are available from the
Department of Theatre & Dance office and online:
www.uwsp.edu/theatre-dance/dance.
Performance and Production
UWSP's dance program provides students
with many opportunities to perform and choreograph. During the fall
semester, students produce the Afterimages dance concert,
developing choreographic talents while collaborating with other dancers,
student designers, artists, musicians, and videographers to present original
work. Dances selected from Afterimages are adjudicated at American
College Dance Festival Association (ACDFA) regionals. Festival adjudicators
frequently select UWSP student choreography for festival gala performances
and, in 2002, did so for the national gala performance at the Kennedy Center
for the Performing Arts. Each spring dance faculty and guest artists produce
the two-week Danstage
season, providing students with professional rehearsal training
and performance experience. Both Afterimages and Danstage
receive full technical support in the Noel Fine Arts Center's Jenkins
Theatre. The department student organization, Players,
and the campus activities organization, Centertainment,
provide additional performance and production opportunities. Dance majors
and minors are invited to audition for all mainstage and studio musical and
drama productions. Students also have the opportunity to present their
choreographic research at the National Undergraduate Research and National
Dance Educators Organization conferences. Each semester dance majors
complete a practicum assignment by working in the scene shop or costume
shop, on deck run crew or costume run crew, with house/public relations,
stage management, or by designing, performing, directing, or choreographing.
Faculty
Joan Karlen, Dance Program Coordinator,
Professor; Susan Gingrasso, CMA, Professor; Jeannie Hill, Instructor; Amy
Beversdorf, Lecturer; Pam Luedtke, Lecturer; John Strassburg, Accompanist.
Biography details available online.
