| Dance major requires auditions to show perfection (03/08) | | Print | |
| Written by Amy Seaman | |
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Most seniors breathed a sigh of relief after turning in their University of California college applications in late November. But this was not the case for seniors Hilary Fung and Marcy Silver, who still had to complete a rigorous audition process for the UC-Los Angeles World Arts and Culture program on Feb. 1. “The program is like a combined dance and cultural studies program,” Fung explained. “Dancers are more able to get a solid education as well as solid dance training in one place.” About 150 people attended the auditions, which took place on the UCLA campus, and 35 will be accepted into next year’s program. UCLA criteria differ for students who apply for the dance program. “If you audition for an arts program they do lower the academic requirements just a little bit because the audition is somewhat harder,” Silver said, adding that the audition was indeed a strenuous process. Dance teacher Wendy Jones believes her students were well prepared. “I teach at a pre-professional level so my students are trained for this type of dance,” she said. “I am glad that they were able to train here.” Jones explained that she focuses on many styles in her dance classes, including modern elements such as jazz and hip-hop, as well as traditional ballet. In addition to their regular applications, Fung and Silver submitted two essays each, a research paper and two teachers’ letter of recommendation. “The UCs don’t usually ask for recommendations for the regular applications,” Silver said. “But it was for World Arts and Culture so I had my recommendations from my dance teacher outside of school and my Italian teachers.” Upon arriving at the audition at around 8 a.m., Silver noted the colorful outfits and cultural garb some of the dancers sported. “It was really interesting to watch them because there were some pretty intense costumes: Russian characters, ancient hula dancers,” she said. “It felt like I was in some kind of crazy wonderland.” Each student participated in two dance classes that showed teachers their ability to adapt to new material. “I got Thai dancing and that was something new to me, since I had never done it in my life,” Silver said. “But neither had anyone else, so we were all on the same level. It was just a lot of moving the hands around and expressing movement.” Fung had more traditional classes. “I was given modern/improvisation and hip-hop,” she said. “The modern class seemed very relaxed and familiar, but the hip-hop was very different from what I was expecting. Instead of being a normal class in which students are given movement and told to imitate the teacher, the class was centered around ‘feeling the groove’ and ‘letting yourself go.’” But the carefree atmosphere soon vanished when students were individually called in to perform their one-minute self-choreographed pieces for the final part of the audition, where they were videotaped and asked questions by the judges. “They had me state what style my piece was and if there was any inspiration for it,” Silver said. “My solo was modern jazz, and I sort of blanked in the middle of it, but I kept moving and running around and improvising so I think I did pretty well.” Fung is also confident she did well — but said she does not want to “jinx” herself. “I slipped a little because I was not used to the floor in that particular dance studio, but I kept going and finished with a big smile,” she said, adding that the UCLA audition was the most relaxed out of her three dance program auditions. “Irvine had a strong emphasis on ballet and so there was a very competitive atmosphere,” she said. “And at NYU, they made cuts on the day of auditions, so that was very nerve-wracking. UCLA seemed the most open to all styles of dance and gave each dancer an equal shot.” The UCLA dance program, among the dance top schools, has accepted several students in the past, according to Jones. “We had about six seniors enter last year as freshmen,” she said. Most students choose to double-major in dance and fields such as physical therapy and teaching, according to Jones. “Dance students tend to be very successful and very marketable,” Jones said. “But they need to realize that even though they can dance, there are other dance-related careers that can make them money.” Jones said that she supports the dancers, regardless of where they end up. “I think it’s great,” she said. “They are taking it to the next level in their dance careers and I am proud of them.” |
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