School of Dance Teaches Students More than Just Steps

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School of Dance Teaches Students More than Just Steps

Published December 7, 2015

Loren Davidson, visiting assistant professor in FSU’s School of Dance, leads a Contemporary technique class on Tuesday where students are given a template of movements but are free to set their own dances to the sounds of eclectic improv piano.
(Photo: Joe Rondone/Democrat)

Article courtesy of the Tallahassee Democrat

For most undergraduate students at Florida State University’s School of Dance, they have one goal when they graduate: dance professionally.

Erika Leeds, who graduated in May, moved to Atlanta to do just that. While the 22-year-old dances with an Atlanta company at night, she also teaches Gyrotonic classes during the day to help pay the bills.

“I didn’t think I would be a teacher,” Leeds said. “When I was here last year, I started Gyrotonic machine certification and I completed it in May. Now I’m teaching that.”

Gyrotonic exercises are completed on special equipment. The certification process typically takes a year. Leeds took a Gyrotonic class while at FSU and fell in love with the movement. She took a certification class in May 2014 and logged hours teaching the class with supervision. She took and passed a test in May. With certification, she can teach on her own.

Holistic exercise

Loren Davidson, visiting assistant professor in FSU’s School of Dance, leads FSU Dance Majors Shabria Mosley, bottom, and Karmyn Moton, through a routine on the Reformer, a piece of Pilates equipment Davidson utilizes to help with strength training and rehab at the University. (Photo: Joe Rondone/Democrat)

The School of Dance at FSU, which has 98 students enrolled in its bachelor’s and master’s programs, offers classes such as Pilates, Gyrotonic, Gyrokinesis and Kinesiology to help students learn how to take care of their bodies.

Since 2013, students have had the opportunity to take a Pilates certification class at FSU and take their certification test the following year.

Loren Davidson, who is now a full-time visiting professor at FSU, spearheaded the classes after completing her Master’s of Fine Arts at FSU in 2012. She wanted to be certified in Pilates, but instead of traveling to Jacksonville, Atlanta or another larger city, she wanted the class to be taught in Tallahassee.

The first year, about 14 people participated. Each of the following years has seen about 10 people.

Aside from offering students a way to make extra money after graduation, the Pilates certification has other benefits.

“They’re developing their self-practice,” Davidson said. “They’re motivated because they understand how important it is. They know the difference, they feel the difference and they know they need it for their bodies.”

Pilates helps dancers become stronger and can be a way for them to rehabilitate their bodies after an injury. It also is easy for dancers to see how Pilates relates to their work, said first-year graduate student Gabriel Williams

“Pilates is a really wonderful system,” Williams said. “It’s holistic; it’s a great way to maintain range of motion, strength and stability throughout the whole body.”

Combining dance and science

Aside from giving students the opportunity to obtain Pilates certifications more easily, FSU’s School of Dance is offering something else unique to its students: a combination of dance and science.

The idea behind what associate professor Tom Welsh calls the dance sciences is an opportunity for students to determine what they need to do to keep their bodies in balance and remain strong. Welsh teaches dance conditioning classes that are tailored to help dancers train their bodies to perform at peak levels.

“Dancers always push themselves to the absolute limit,” said Welsh, who has been with FSU for more than 20 years. “What we had to do was find ways to try and support our dancers who are pushing their bodies to the next level.”

Classes have been developed that are teaching dancers self-practice so they can build their strength on their own. One such class breaks students into small groups where the students work with graduate assistants on their weaknesses, whether it’s balance or core strength or something else.

Dance and science may not seem like a traditional pairing, but it’s what drew Veoletta Range to FSU for graduate school. Range was always interested in anatomy and studied pre-med at Duke University while minoring in dance. She intended to go to medical school but decided instead to merge anatomy and dance.

“That’s how I discovered dance medicine and science was a field, and it was kind of a perfect niche for me,” Range said.

Range graduated in May 2015 and moved to West Palm Beach, where she teaches Pilates and dance classes. She’s applying dance science to work with individuals who want to enhance their individual training or live healthier.

The benefits of dance science go beyond helping dancers become better performers; it helps rehabilitate dancers after an injury.

Davidson, who returned to graduate school after dancing with a company in New York for seven years, chose to complete her MFA at FSU because of the conditioning classes the school offers.

In her second year, she suffered a back injury that sidelined her. She was able to take an injured dancers class that Welsh was offering. The class allowed her to rehabilitate her injury without withdrawing from the curriculum.

“I wouldn’t be dancing, I wouldn’t have this job,” Davidson said. “I wouldn’t have anything of where I was headed without the program.”

Davidson, who continues to dance, teaches dance classes and dancer cross-training classes in which she utilizes FSU’s conditioning studio. The studio has Pilates and Gyrotonic equipment, weights, yoga balls, yoga mats and other equipment tailored to dancers.

The conditioning studio is unique to FSU and allows students to see their imbalances and perform exercises that can help prevent injuries.

Loren Davidson, visiting assistant professor in FSU’s School of Dance, leads FSU Dance Majors Karmyn Moton, left, and Shabria Mosley through a routine on the Reformer, a piece of Pilates equipment Davidson utilizes to help with strength training and rehab at the university. (Photo: Joe Rondone/Democrat)

“The conditioning studio staff and the conditioning studio offer an intermediary to nip things in the bud that normally most dancers would let go to the point that they might need some kind of major intervention like surgery,” said Williams.

The effect and benefits of the conditioning studio go beyond the students who use it. The students who use the studio can apply what they learn to their own dancing and teach other dancers.

“There’s a ripple effect, and it starts with this amazing conditioning studio and the time people spend in it,” Williams said. “It doesn’t just stop there, it will continue to affect and improve the lives of all people who have come into contact with the condition studio.”

Upcoming performances by the FSU School of Dance:

Jan. 21-23: Master of Fine Arts concert
Feb. 5-6: Master of Fine Arts concert
March 25-26: Master of Fine Arts concert
April 15-16, 22-23: Days of Dance