The University of South Florida’s (USF) Dance Program in Tampa, Florida, is one of the best training grounds for university age dance students in the United States. Students come from all over the United States and abroad to study with their world-class faculty and guest artists, as well as to take advantage of their unique dance-focused study abroad programs. A conservatory-like training ground within one of the largest liberal arts public universities in the country, the USF Dance Program is proud of its esteemed alumni who have graduated into some of the best dance companies in the United States, including Alvin Ailey, Complexions and Trisha Brown, as well as establishing their own dance companies, achieving master’s and doctorate degrees in dance, teaching in large university programs, starting their own dance schools, and maintaining major positions in arts organizations.
According to Michael Foley, Associate Professor of Dance, and Director of USF’s Dance in Paris Programs, which regularly brings in some of the world’s best choreographers to work with their students, and teach some of their signature repertory pieces. Some of their most recent guest artists have included: Alonzo King, Doug Varone, Ohad Naharin/Batsheva Dance Company, Jennifer Archibald, Bill T. Jones and Trisha Brown. They are also the East Coast repository for the repertory of award-winning, San Francisco-based choreographer, Robert Moses. Since 2007, the USF Dance in Paris Programs have brought over 150 dancers to Paris to study with some of the world’s greatest dancers and choreographers, as well as to expose dance majors to dance performances by companies like the Paris Opera Ballet, Pina Bauch, William Forsythe and Nederlands Dans Theater, to name a few. They also have long-standing dance study abroad opportunities in China, the Caribbean and North Africa.
The fact that they have students who make such huge impacts in the dance world on a yearly basis shows that they are doing something right at USF Dance. Whether it is through their own dancing and choreography, or their philanthropic efforts to encourage larger audiences for dance, the training and education they receive in the USF Dance Program prepares them for a life beyond the studio.
In Michael’s opinion, dancers often do not know enough about how their body works on a muscular/skeletal level, so they just push themselves into injury, and do not get the proper information as to how to work in a technique class or how to preserve their bodies for a lifetime of dancing. That’s where a good university dance program comes in: re-educating the dancer so that they can work more efficiently, healthily and more maturely. He also thinks that dancers often limit their possibilities in the world whereas the dance community has so many facets: dancer, teacher, choreographer, administrator, historian, trainer, producer, writer, director, etc. Why limit yourself when you can do so many things?
This is the 10th year of the USF Dance in Paris Summer Program and the 2nd year of the USF Dance in Paris Semester Program. Michael developed and directed both of them. His goal is to keep streamlining the programs to make them more efficient, interesting and challenging for students who attend them, so that they can get the most beneficial experience out of them. Next year, they are adding major choreographic excursions to Amsterdam and Berlins, so it is going to be a really exciting year!
If you would like more information about the University of South Florida’s Dance Program, http://theatreanddance.
Anyone who has danced at the University of South Florida’s Dance Program, with Michael Foley or with any of the other instructors at USF, is invited to comment on our blog.
. . . dancers often do not know enough about how their body works on a muscular/skeletal level, so they just push themselves into injury . . ..
