Beginning September 2019, the UVM College of Arts and Sciences will offer a Bachelor of Arts in dance. Elizabeth Seyler, dance lecturer at UVM and assistant editor at Seven Days, recently spoke to faculty about how the dance program has grown in the past thirteen years.
"Unlike other dance BAs with specific sequences of study, the UVM major will allow students to build their own focus, "because they are the ones who are going to understand how ballet and hip-hop go together," suggested Besaw.
"[Julian] Barnett, who has taught at Princeton University, the Juilliard School and, most recently, Middlebury College, believes that the UVM dance program's relatively small size — currently 40 minors at a time — confers an additional benefit. "It maintains this intimacy between faculty and students, which I feel is pretty special and unique," he said. "You really do get to build relationships with students, more so than in a large conservatory.
"UVM's dance BA will be the first one offered at a Vermont public college or university."
The announcement coincides with opening night of the 12th annual Dancing Uphill show, running March 20-23, 2019 at Mann Gym. Tickets are available online, through phone (802-656-2094), at Royall Tyler Theatre box office, or at the door.