Video Transcript: Journey Through Dance Minor Program

Mary Burdick ’26 [Economics major, Dance minor]

We’re all upperclassmen getting a dance minor here at Princeton, so let’s talk about it.

Paige Sherman ’25 [Molecular Biology major, Dance minor]

The Princeton Dance Department is the place that I have felt simultaneously the most challenged and supported.

Maya Sessions ’26 [Mechanical Engineering major, Computer Science and Dance minors]

It has also broadened my horizons and has shown me what dance can be outside of what I ever thought it could be.

Tierra Lewis ’25 [School of Public and International Affairs major, African American Studies and Dance minors]

Coming in as someone based in, like, hip-hop forms, they’re very, like, gracious to just, like, open up new, like, opportunities to me that usually aren’t available.

Mary Burdick

The Princeton Dance Department is the place on campus where I can be the most myself and explore who I am and create in a way that I feel like I can’t do on other parts of this campus.

Ethan Arrington ’25 [Mechanical Engineering major, Dance minor]

It’s very welcoming. The dance department really encouraged me to rediscover a love for ballet and also to discover new forms of ballet through all the different courses.

Paige Sherman

I joined one of the Zoom calls my senior year of high school about Princeton Dance. Susan Marshall was also on the call, and I remember introducing myself and saying, “Oh, I know I’m not gonna dance as much as I did in high school when I come to Princeton.” And she was like, “Just wait and see. If you want to be dancing, like, 30 hours a week, you can be.”

Ethan Arrington

So, I knew when applying to colleges that I wanted to do some kind of dance. I was looking for places that had very strong academics in the major I was looking for and also just happened to have some kind of dance program in general. And ultimately, what made me decide on Princeton is a very strong engineering program that they had, and then also just visiting campus and seeing the facilities really showed me that Princeton values this department. It was nice to see that, like, obviously beautiful facilities, but also, like, a super supportive dance community.

Mary Burdick

Growing up, I did a lot of competitive dance, so I knew that going into college, it was definitely something that I wanted to factor in. So, I visited one day my senior fall, and I actually took a co-curricular class. I was actually in this studio. And something that I found super cool about it was that there was live music during it. It was just cool to see how, like, this everyday class was so elevated.

Tierra Lewis

Dance as a minor or, like, dance as, like, an academic pursuit wasn’t really, like, on my radar. It wasn’t until I got on campus, and my freshman year, I went to the information session where I met, like, some of the faculty in the dance department as well as, like, other interested students. And from there, I got involved in, like, the Princeton Dance Festival.

Paige Sherman

Princeton Dance Festival is, like, the really big performance opportunity every fall for people in the dance program, and you can participate in it either just by taking a class. In addition to that, they also have opportunities to perform in what they’re called guest choreographer pieces, and those are all outside guests that brought in, I think, through the list of people I’ve been able to work with. and I’m like, “Wow, this is the same group of people that I would’ve worked with if I had gone to a more conservatory type school.” You know, last year with, like, Yin Yue, Matthew Neenan, Amy Hall Garner. I, like, got to learn a Bill T. Jones company piece that was pretty amazing, and the list goes on and on and on.

Tierra Lewis

So, my freshman year, it was with Omari Wiles, and that was a mixture of, like, Vogue and Afrobeat styles. And then my junior year, it was with Ishita Mili, and that was focusing on classical Indian styles. And then this past year, it was with Rennie Harris who’s, like, a really influential figure in, like, the hip-hop world.

Maya Sessions

I remember going to the Princeton Dance Festival and I was like, “Wow, this is a full performance, huge stage, everything.” But what really struck me and kind of made me want to join the dance minor was actually seeing the independent dance thesis projects.

Tierra Lewis

It definitely devote a lot of resources to students pursuing the choreographic track. During my sophomore year, I was a part of a independent choreographic project. There were elements of ballet, modern dance, as well as hip-hop. There aren’t usually a lot of independent projects from students based in hip-hop. And then it also inspired me as I was creating my own project this year and just seeing how much time and energy it takes in, like, rehearsal leading up to the performance, but also how much support you get from the rest of the department in choosing your music, your lighting, your costumes, as well as, like, advising while you’re making the choreography.

Maya Sessions

I was a part of one that was also a part of the senior’s, like, anthropology thesis, and so this was really centered around, like, mixed race identity. It was really interesting to me ’cause it directly applied to, like, my experiences and my life. I didn’t know that dance could have that much, like, meaning just in simply creating the moves.

Ethan Arrington

For me, using dance as a method of learning was a very new concept. I took Judith Hamera’s “Dance Across Cultures” course. It’s honestly a highlight of my dance experiences at Princeton. It’s an ethnography course, so you’re learning about all these different cultures around the world. And as part of your education into these cultures, you experience, like, an hour of an expert teaching that style of dance. That just exposed me to so many new styles, Butoh, Bharatanatyam, Capoeira, Salsa. Just a dozen different styles.

Maya Sessions

I took experiential anatomy. It was a really interesting class of using, like, improvisation and just feeling movement through your body. It was majorly pre-med students that were trying to learn anatomy, and I thought that was a really new way to use dance.

Mary Burdick

I feel like when I have a dance class in my schedule, it creates such a balance and diversity of work. Like, I’m an econ major, so, like, on my p-sets, and then being able to, like, reflect and write about dance and dance history creates such a nice balance.

Tierra Lewis

A lot of the dance classes are also cross-listed with other departments. So, you can fulfill your requirements for your, like, your major or your minor as well as just, like, dancing.

Ethan Arrington

Speaking as an engineer who has many requirements, I was still able to, pretty much every semester, fit some kind of dance in my schedule, both academic and through a club.

Paige Sherman

I also feel very similarly, like molecular biology and dance. I don’t feel that I’m necessarily combining them in any way. They feel like distinctly separate spheres rather than feeling, like, stressed about trying to maintain both worlds. It’s like, “Wow.” One, it’s a privilege to be able to have both of these at such a high level, but also it’s, like, everybody in the dance department, they know that you’re also a student, that you have these academic interests, and you’re so intentionally supported.

Maya Sessions

I’ve never had more resources to watch dance and go to performances in New York, and even at McCarter Theatre here, like having amazing guest artists and dance companies come and perform, and it’s like, right at our doorstep.

Paige Sherman

I grew up in New York City, so there was a lot of dance available to me, but I still feel like the breadth of dance that I’ve seen here at Princeton, and now I have such an expanded interest.

Ethan Arrington

It makes me wanna bring up something about Princeton in general that I found a little bit surprising and very unique, is there is a very large and prevalent dance culture, not just among dancers themselves, but the community itself is really inspired and appreciative of dance. There’s, like, more or less 20 different student groups that celebrate either, like, a specific cultural arts identity or a specific technique or style. If you appreciate dance and wanna get into it, Princeton is such an amazing community for that.

Mary Burdick

Depending on what your academic schedule looks like, you can always fit some sort of dance into your schedule.

Paige Sherman

If you just want to get the minor, you take five classes over the course of your time at Princeton, you do your tech hours, a couple additional requirements, it’s not that much. And so, if you choose to dance 30 hours a week, it’s because you want to do it and because there are opportunities that you’re excited about and because you wanna push yourself.

Mary Burdick

Like with the students groups, you can choose how many dances you’re in, whether you’re choreographing, and then also whether you wanna take a Princeton course or you wanna be part of Princeton Dance Festival or part of a thesis group.

Paige Sherman

Nobody came here because they’re getting a BFA. We all could quit dance at any time and still graduate with our major. And I think that just creates such a positive environment in the student groups, in the dance department of everybody wants to be here.

Maya Sessions

I just received this summer funding award from the Lewis Center, the Alex Adams award, and it has really opened up the door to what my summer can be. And now that I have this, I’m really getting super excited. I’m getting this funding to go to Japan and study Butoh. I was really interested in, like, the philosophy of Butoh, especially coming from, like, a Japanese American background. I wanted to explore more, like, how this reflects on Japanese culture and society and kind of use principles of that in my thesis next year.

Paige Sherman

Having the support from the Lewis Center to be able to actually devote a sizable chunk of last summer just to dance, and having that experience and realizing, “Oh my goodness, this is actually what I find deeply, personally, artistically, physically fulfilling. has completely kinda shifted now wanting to do pursue dance post grad.”

Tierra Lewis

Right now, I plan on going to grad school to study the intersection of media, communications, and technology, but I definitely know that dance will be, like, a large hobby of mine, I would say, because I still wanna keep, like, learning and, like, growing, like, as a dancer.

Mary Burdick

After college, I’m planning to go into investment banking, but I think that I’ll always have dance as a part of my life.

Ethan Arrington

For me, I am going to New York and I’m actually committing fully to training in dance, and so it’s a big change. My senior year high-school self would be very surprised, I think, and very happy.