MURFREESBORO — The
first class of dance majors pursuing a bachelor of science degree at a public
university in Tennessee will begin studying at MTSU this fall.
As a prelude to this degree track, assistant professor Meg
Brooker will guide three MTSU dance students through a multifaceted performance
at the People’s Friendship University of Russia in Moscow May 14 and 15.
The Tennessee Board of Regents approved the new degree track
as one of its final actions prior to relinquishing governance of MTSU to its
new Board of Trustees.
Twenty-two people registered for auditions in August, and 18
were accepted. An audition is a prerequisite for admission to the program.
“Students will study a combination of different levels of
technique classes, dance history and theory, theories around kinesiology and
anatomy and healthy training for the body, as well as choreography and
improvisation,” said Brooker.
One degree track will focus on performance and choreography,
and the other will concentrate on pedagogy and practice.
Dance faculty, who include assistant professor Marsha Barsky
and lecturer Michelle Parkins, in addition to Brooker, will work with students
to establish contacts early in their collegiate careers to help them make a
smooth transition to professional dancing, dance instruction or choreography
after graduation.
The dance majors also will benefit from working in MTSU
Dance Theatre, a preprofessional undergraduate dance company that performs each
semester in Tucker Theatre on the MTSU campus.
“Students have the opportunity to be in two fully produced
concerts every year, which is quite exciting,” said Brooker.
The students who will perform in Russia will have a bit of
an edge by displaying their talents in the home of the world-renowned Bolshoi
and Kirov ballet troupes.
In addition to their on-stage work, the students will
conduct research into the nature of contemporary dance in Russia today. The
Soviet Union’s approach to the lively arts put a chill on dance innovation
there during the Cold War.
“Some of the ideas that dancers were working with
experimentally in the West in the 1960s are ideas that Russian dancers only
began exploring in the late 1980s and the early 1990s,” Brooker said.
The MTSU entourage will be in country through May 23. For
more information on the new dance degree or the MTSU Dance Theatre, go to http://www.mtsu.edu/theatreanddance/.
Contact Brooker at 615-898-5023 or margaret.brooker@mtsu.edu, or Barsky at
615-898-5023 or marsha.barsky@mtsu.edu.
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