It was a pandemic through grade school: either you were a dancer yourself or you knew plenty of girls who attended a local studio. Whether it’s tap, ballet, jazz, hip-hop or lyrical, dance is a deeply-held passion for many modern young women.
After their high school graduation, though, when many dancers leave their local studios and attend university, they are prompted with the decision of whether or not to continue their pursuance of the art. Some may view it as a frivolous adolescent hobby for those who aren’t seeking a career in professional dance, but students at UNC stand firmly in defense of dance as an enriching form of expression.
I spoke to three freshmen dancers, each from different groups on campus. Representing Blank Canvas, the largest dance company at UNC, was Ashlyn Beach. Blank Canvas is entirely student-led and open to all levels of dance and all styles, being the only dance group on campus that is not audition-based.
Being a versatile art form, the styles of dance may vary greatly. For Beach, she finds that contemporary, slow and modern styles appeal to her most due to their “flow.” She began dancing at a local studio in her hometown when she was young, and she sought out a dance company as soon as she got to UNC. Beach testified that perhaps the biggest difference that she has faced with this transition is that, rather than all of the pieces being taught by an instructor, the choreography is all submitted by fellow students in Blank Canvas.
Since each student has their own background with respect to dance and different studios across the country teach in a plethora of various ways, someone in Blank Canvas can expect to be exposed to familiar as well as diverse styles. “[The choreographers] put in moves that I’ve never tried before, and I feel like that really helps me grow as a dancer.”
Pictured above is Beach performing “Don’t Rain on My Parade” from the Blank Canvas recital this past weekend.
Beach also explained that, at the university level, dance allows you to meet more people than a local studio would. When prompted with the question of whether it has interfered with her studies at UNC, she stated she feels that it actually benefits her academic performance. “If I have dance, it gives me motivation to work around that and…use the time in between most effectively.” She said that another “pro” for Blank Canvas is that you can choose how many classes you wish to take on, tailoring the activity to best fit your workload and time availability for a given semester.
On the subject of dancing at the university level in general, she explained that it “gives me a reason to be more social and expressive in ways that doing studies [alone] wouldn’t allow me to be.”
Grace Bryant was another interviewee — a current member of KamiKaze and former member of Moonlight, both of which are audition-based hip hop dance teams at UNC that are entirely student-led. Bryant has been dancing consistently since eleventh grade, when she first joined her high school’s dance team, and she decided to continue her exploration of hip hop and urban dance at university, since they are her favorite styles. “I feel like [these styles] are more exciting to perform.”
Bryant is fifth from the right in this picture of the KamiKaze crew. Photo credit goes to the UNC KamiKaze dance team.
Looking back at her high school dance experience, Bryant said there is definitely more morale and excitement for dance itself within the teams at UNC than there was on her high school team, and that with KamiKaze there is freedom to submit your own choreography and collaborate with other teammates.
With dance crews at UNC, however, Bryant reflected that it is difficult at times to balance dance and academics. Juggling the two can definitely lead to some late nights, she said, especially when choreographing part of a set yourself. Last semester, she was on both KamiKaze and Moonlight, but in order to make more time for her studies, she chose to focus solely on KamiKaze this spring. The key to balancing dance and school while in college is knowing your limits and setting priorities, as Bryant did.
Bryant told me that she knows people who have started dancing during their time at UNC, and are going on to become professional dancers, which is incredible! To her fellow Tar Heels, she says that college is certainly a perfect time to discover a new passion, such as dance.
Lastly I interviewed Jeanie Chung, who joined the aforementioned Moonlight dance crew this spring. Chung started dancing when she was 5, and it was something that was “constant” when she moved from place to place throughout her youth. “I can’t imagine my life without dance because I love it so much.”
In this shot of the team, Chung is first from the left in the very front. Photo credit goes to the UNC Moonlight dance crew.
Before college, though she studied ballet in the past, contemporary style appealed to her most, since it allowed more freedom than ballet. During college however, she discovered her love for hip-hop, which encourages much more freestyle than either contemporary or ballet.
For Chung, dance at UNC is about much more than the sport itself. She loves the community aspect and the fact that being on Moonlight is similar to a local studio in that the group is so close-knit. According to her, it is an extremely supportive and encouraging environment, and her fellow teammates are “helpful in understanding why I love dance so much.” She said, “Being able to realize that again and renew that passion is really great.”
She explained that dance can also be used to reach out to others, as a form of expression and art that can impact lives and draw people closer together. For instance, she and other dancers at UNC are part of an organization that volunteers at elementary schools and offers free dance lessons to the children there.
Dancing and studying has definitely clashed for her, but not overwhelmingly so. She said she may have missed review sessions or group studying because of priorities related to Moonlight, but overall she stated that, similar to Beach, she does procrastinate less while having dance as a commitment. While it may be somewhat difficult to handle both dance and school as a priority, Chung firmly stands by dance as a great “outlet for the stress” that every UNC student faces.
At the end of the interview, Chung imparted some advice to current and future UNC students, which I absolutely love and feel it embodies the spirit of this whole profile. “If you’re not doing something that you enjoy or gives you happiness…that’s gonna burn you out, and you’re going to start hating college life. If you find something that you love, like dance, it keeps you going and keeps you looking forward to the next day. Granted, you might not do so well on one test because you had practice the day before, but from my perspective as of now, completing my first year, I would say one test score is not worth your happiness. At the end of the day it is your life, and doing something that you love doing is the thing that will keep you going.”