February 25, 2004
Contact: Bud Grimes, University Relations
New Dance-Education Program is First in Tennessee
Martin, Tennessee - A newly approved dance-education program at the University of Tennessee at Martin will offer expanded opportunities for students pursuing dance as a career. The program is the first and only dance-education program in Tennessee and will accept students beginning fall semester 2004.
The program will prepare students both for a professional teaching career in dance and to attend graduate school in dance. Alix Miller Gausline, assistant professor of dance and director of the new program, said the program's approval is significant for Tennessee dance students.
"We will attract (to UT Martin) the most talented dancers from around the state," she said. "Before, students were leaving the state to attend a school with a dance-education program."
Specific teaching opportunities for dance-education graduates include certification to teach in a K-12 public school system and the preparation needed to operate a private studio. Graduates will also have the skills necessary to join a professional dance company. "This degree makes UT Martin students well rounded and therefore incredibly marketable for future job opportunities," Gausline added.
Besides general-education requirements, Gausline said students will take courses in ballet, contemporary techniques, choreography, dance history and theory, dance education, music and kinesiology. Students in the program will be placed for student teaching in one of the highly respected K-12 dance programs in the state, she added.
"Students in the dance education program can also personalize their education through studying abroad or at summer dance intensives," Gausline said. "The senior project is the culminating experience in which students utilize their personal interests and talents in a research or performance-based project."
Amy Hedstrom, a third-year political science student from Mt. Juliet, Tenn., is already involved in dance at the university. She can now add a second degree to her college resume by pursuing a bachelor of fine arts with an emphasis in dance education. She says that the structure is already in place for the new program.
"It's a very professional program," Hedstom said. "We have a lot of guest choreographers and technique classes and everything that you would want to experience maybe in the professional world. It's very elaborate here."
Gaulsine said that performance opportunities are another key component of the program. For example, Hedstrom performed earlier this year at Vanderbilt University's Blair School of Music in a solo accompanied by Blair music faculty and members of the Nashville Symphony.
Hedstrom will also attend the American College Dance Festival in March in Atlanta. Major dance schools, choreographers and professionals attend the conference to take classes and attend round-table discussions about dance.
More information about the dance-education program is available both on the Web and by contacting Gausline. Go online at http://www.utm.edu/~apmiller or call her at 731-881-7335.
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