Students cultivate self-reflection, problem solving and critical thinking in聽 91探花Dance Program’s Senior Seminar, readying聽them to articulate their experience as a dancer to聽prepare them for success in the job market
Graduates from the pursue careers in arts leadership, nonprofits, teaching, medicine, movement therapy and more. Since many students double or even triple major, dance alumni enter the job market with a high level of skill in giving and receiving feedback that is valuable in a wide range of team and coaching environments. Faculty also focus on cultivating self-reflection, creative problem solving, critical thinking and a fearless willingness to try new things. Dance majors can then bring these attitudes to their job search, which gives them a jump-start in the Dance 480 Senior Seminar.
The seminar guides students to analyze both what they want from a career and how their individual strengths as an artist will match their aspirations. In the dancer鈥檚 tradition of experiential learning, they also spend nearly a full day on a job shadow. As they summarize what they learned in the class, students practice verbalizing the meaning of their personal experience with dance, a critical but challenging skill for dancers.
Thinking critically about CVs and personal strengths
Hannah Wiley
Professor, Dance
Dance professor Hannah Wiley teaches the program鈥檚 senior seminar. She invites alumni and dance professionals to speak with her class about careers, and asks guests to make their curriculum vitae available ahead of time so that the class can analyze them. 鈥淭hey see how these professionals present themselves, and it helps the students shape how they will want to be presented,鈥 says Wiley. After a guest lecturer鈥檚 visit, Wiley asks students to discuss what they learned from the content of the presentation and the way the visitor described his or her knowledge and skills.
Through this exercise, 鈥淚 figured out how to explain the ways my public health degree relates to my dance degree,鈥 says Sean O鈥橞ryan, a senior double-majoring in dance and public health. 鈥淎t first I didn鈥檛 think cover letters were that important, but now I see how I can represent my personality and accomplishments in them. I think it makes me stand out.鈥
Job shadowing helps students find the right professional fit
After learning about different careers from guests, students in the senior seminar choose a job to shadow. This offers students more nuanced insight into fields they鈥檙e interested in exploring. 鈥淚 don鈥檛 know any job where you鈥檇 get any real sense of what it鈥檚 like in an hour,鈥 says Wiley. 鈥淚f a job is boring to you, you鈥檙e not going to figure that out in an hour, but you鈥檒l figure it out in six.鈥 Shadowing has helped dance students discover what they like and, just as usefully, what they don鈥檛. 鈥淭here have been some pretty amazing things that have happened,鈥 says Wiley. 鈥淟ike, a student going to shadow a first grade teacher and聽realizing, 鈥業 could never do that.鈥 But another student saw first graders using dance throughout their day and thought it was the most beautiful thing she鈥檇 ever seen!鈥
Juliet McMains
Associate Professor and Donald E. Petersen Endowed Fellow, Dance
Meaningful reflection aids purposeful career decisions
Students give a final presentation in which they reflect on their professional skills, how they expect to apply their personal strengths to the career they plan to pursue, and how what they learned from their job shadow affected their career plans.
鈥淚 ask them 鈥榳hy鈥 a lot,鈥 says Wiley. 鈥淚f they鈥檙e applying to medical school, they present to us on why they chose one school over another one.鈥 Wiley says reflection helps students gain a sense of purpose and empowerment that they are in control of their own future, and know that they have skills to accomplish their goals.
The presentation also forces students to verbalize why dance and artistry matter to them. 鈥淚t鈥檚 important that all of us in this field learn to talk about dance because talking isn鈥檛 how we relate to it, but it鈥檚 how we relate to other people about it,鈥 Wiley explains. 鈥淭he idea is to practice that skill.鈥
Jennifer Salk
Program Director and Associate Professor, Dance
Pushing students to take risks can lead to surprising results
The dance faculty are constantly encouraging students to try something new, from experimenting with a different shoulder movement to applying for a dream job. 鈥淵ou have to try things,鈥 says Siena Dumas Ang, who is triple majoring in dance, math and computer science. She says her dance training make her more willing to spend the time necessary to experiment in her other studies. 鈥淵ou might need to spend five hours writing code to see if it works, and a lot of people don鈥檛 want to spend that time, but in dance you just have to try a lift to know if it works.鈥
The results of trying something new or uncomfortable often surprises the students. Wiley pushes her seminar students by having them write a tailored cover letter for their dream job, even if they feel it is too far out of reach and don鈥檛 intend to send it. One recent graduate took a chance, submitted her dream-job application and was accepted for a year-long internship at the Kennedy Arts Center, which led to a position with the prestigious Dance USA. 鈥淚t makes a difference to them to have someone say, 鈥榊es, you can do that job, why wouldn鈥檛 you apply?鈥欌 notes Wiley.
The confidence to know when to lead and when to follow
The collaborative, interdependent environment of dance mirrors professional team settings in many ways. Both require a team player who knows her own strengths, how her performance fits in to the bigger picture, how other people rely on her, and when to step forward as a leader to give direction or even a solo performance. Moving between these roles requires a team member to be comfortable with giving and receiving objective feedback as well as a high level of self-awareness, which are nurtured through reflection and other exercises in the dance program.
Dumas Ang summarizes her experiences learning these skills with dance: 鈥淚t鈥檚 about discovering what kind of artist you are, from the theoretical side and the practical side, blending it all and becoming somebody who is confident in who you are.鈥
Learn More
Read the full Provost report on how to link academic passion to life and careers.