Anders Kiledal | Collegian
The National Honor Society for Dance Arts, formally established on Hillsdale College’s campus in November, is making movement.
Formation of the honorary marks the expansion and increased professionalism of the dance program on campus. The honor society will provide even more opportunities for those on campus to experience the art of dance.
Sophomore Rachel Watson has danced since she was 5 years old, but when arriving at college, she had no intention of formally pursuing the hobby she loves
“For a liberal arts school, it’s very unusual to have this good of resources,” Watson said. “It’s a lot higher caliber than what I expected from a school that only has a minor.”
After learning about all the opportunities in Hillsdale’s dance program, Watson spun into it, joining Tower Dancers, participating in classes, choreographing her own piece for the March 2016 concert, and serving as the new dance honorary’s vice president.
A product of the National Dance Education Organization, the honorary aims to recognize the accomplishments of dancers by rewarding points for involvement with dance-related activities, including participating in performances, taking classes, writing dance-related essays, doing philanthropic recitals for schools and nursing homes, and even lobbying Congress to promote funding of the arts.
“It promotes the arts, and I think that dance can be a neglected art here at Hillsdale,” the dance honorary’s president, senior Priscilla Larson, said. “We put so much time and effort into everything we do, so it’s nice to have something that recognizes that effort and achievement.”
Points are awarded in three categories: artistic merit, leadership, and academic achievement.
Not only are the individual students being recognized for their work, but the establishment of the honorary also provides a boost in status for the dance program at Hillsdale.
“Because its a nationally-recognized institution, people know what it is. People respect that,” Watson said.
Last semester, the honorary introduced itself to campus by performing an abridged version of “The Nutcracker.”
“Because it’s so well known, all the dancers have either done the piece they did, or they’ve seen it like a thousand times,” Watson said. “I thought it would be a really easy way to start building up this honorary by not taking a lot of time. I think it’s just a classic. Even people who don’t appreciate dance can still appreciate the story behind it.”
Getting to that point wasn’t easy, however. Dancers started forming the organization in the fall of 2014 but encountered obstacles, since the honorary is geared toward larger dance programs with majors.
“Making it fit here at Hillsdale has been a challenge, which is why it took a long time to get started,” Larson said. “We needed to figure out if we had to make some changes to fulfill the requirements.”
While at one point the dancers were looking to create a brand new honorary because the requisites for NHSDA “freaked” them out, Watson said, the national organization worked with Hillsdale to fit its smaller size.
Likewise, growing the dance program’s credibility in its curriculum proved challenging. Over the past two summers, Visiting Assistant Professor of Dance Holly Hobbs received training in the American Ballet Theatre’s curriculum. The ABT, however, designed its course material for ages 3-18.
“I’ve had to modify the program in some ways, but in other ways, you approach the technique the same,” Hobbs said. “The progression of things is still the same.”
The curriculum focuses on developing one aspect of technique at a time, from intensity to duration to frequency.
“The end result is increased technical ability, and we are definitely seeing results in a short time period,” Hobbs said. “I feel like dancers are progressing more efficiently than before.”
Dancers in the program come from a wide variety of dance backgrounds.
“I was hoping to unify the program, to clarify, to center our ideas,” Hobbs said.
The dancers said they see improvement with ABT, too.
“It gets rid of the floof,” Larson said. “It makes you a stronger dancer.”
As America’s ballet company and a creation of the State Department, the American Ballet Theatre curriculum elevates the status of Hillsdale’s dance program, Hobbs said. The network also spreads word about the college’s resources.
“They are the most premier dance company in the United States,” Hobbs said. “I want to provide the best training, and they have a wonderful training company.”
With the implementation of the curriculum, Hobbs said she thought it made sense to bring an ABT trainer as a guest choreographer. Last semester, Samantha Shelton, who led one of Hobbs’ training seminars for the curriculum, taught a dance to some in the program for the Tower Dancers’ shows in March.
“That’s what a professional company does. You have a guest choreographer, and you spend one or two days learning it, and months later you perform it,” Watson said. “Like with the dance honorary, it teaches you how real dancers do their job.”
With these new aspects of the dance program, the goal is to provide more performances for the artists to participate in and the audience to experience.
“We want to find more opportunities to perform, maybe do some improv and find a way to take dance outside of Sage and literally put it in the Grewcock Student Union or on the Quad or in the amphitheater and get it out there so people can see it,” Watson said.
In particular, the growing program will showcase plenty of classical ballet. An idea for the honorary’s spring performance includes dances from various ballets, such as “Swan Lake” or “Cinderella.”
“I think the more people see dance, the more it benefits them, the more it benefits the whole community here,” Watson said. “Find a way to experience a little bit of it because I think it’s going to play a bigger role in the next few years at Hillsdale.”