“From technique to performance to simple appearance, I lacked the ability to find self-approval. Up
until my senior year of high school, I had let these characteristic consume me, determining my eating habits, my friendships, and ultimately hurting the passion for dance that had been 15 years in the making.”
Summer Whirlwind
It is a generally understood idea that college brings about various levels and versions of growth. Whether that is emotional, physical, or intellectual, I find that it rings incredibly true and that this past summer, I experienced an immense amount of growth in all senses of the word.
Bursting the Bubble: Opposing Tendencies
This year has been full of love and growth, and completing my finals could not be any more bittersweet. I have had the opportunity to learn so much about myself, and about those whom I will be spending the next three years with in my BFA Family. I have developed new perspectives and honed into my deepest interests in order to further investigate the path that I hope to take in years to come. It flew by much too fast, but I have no complaints – it was truly a year to remember.
In Composition I, we were assigned a final project which focused on this growth. As movers and artists, we all have a comfort zone, a bubble in which we feel we can move naturally and organically. As an attempt to continue this growth throughout the last few weeks of the semester, we were assigned to look into these tendencies and oppose them in our movement. Essentially, we were being assigned to go out of our comfort zone and challenge ourselves to develop a new movement vocabulary.
Reflecting on Freshman Year
In a person’s Freshman year of college, it often common that they find a group of close friends – possibly two or four people whom they can confide in, laugh with, and simply love being around. These are the people you hope to see everyday and cannot wait to share your experiences with. Every time you see them, it is like you have been apart forever and you are immediately filled with joy. However, in my Freshman year, I have found this in 33 people: my BFA Class of 2019.
A Joyful Department Debut
This semester, I had the honor of being cast in Eddie Taketa’s original work “Onionskins, Opaques, Ox Bloods, and Pearls” for the Department’s Spring Concert (April 7 – 9, 2016). With a cast of twelve dancers including myself, rehearsals began at the start of the semester. A mixture of grades and training backgrounds, we entered into the studio with essentially nothing. We were starting from scratch with the intention of creating something as a group.
From The Inside Out
As a Freshman in The Ohio State University Department of Dance, I have gained so much from just these past two semesters. With fresh eyes and an open mind, I have learned from both faculty and my peers and have developed the tools to further myself as a technician, as an artist, and as a person. It has been a whirlwind, but one that I will always remember and would never trade for anything.
Allowing Landscape to Influence Movement
As a result of Spring Fever, we have begun working with the idea of landscapes in Composition I. Prior to Spring Break, we were broken up into to groups and assigned to develop our own landscape and to use such landscape in order to create a compositional score. Our landscape (to the Left), drawn by Hazel Black, was that of a country road: black road, power lines, grass, hills, blue sky – exactly what you would see when looking out your window on a long road trip.
In our study, we attempted to use the ideas of motion and time, showing the juxtaposition between a still photo and the moving image that it captures.
Deriving Inspiration from Photography
In February, our Composition I class with Daniel Roberts studied what it meant to derive inspiration and movement from still portraits and photographs. Of the many studies that we experimented with and performed, this particular duet which I performed with Alize Raptou sticks out to me as a moment which I began to find some new movement vocabulary.
Our Honor Defend – A Dance Team Documentary
In addition to being a Dance Major here at The Ohio State University, I have had the immense honor of dancing on The Ohio State University Dance Team (Ohio State Athletics). Aside from keeping me busy, this “double-dance opportunity” has helped to shape both my artistry and style in ways that I never would have expected. In taking technique classes through my major and increasing my performance opportunities through the team, I have been able to study both foundational movement practices while also delving into the commercial side of the dance world. As someone who is largely interested in the commercial dance field, this has helped me to grow physically and clear up the pathway which I would like to continue my studies in.
When we were assigned to create a Documentary, my team and I had just recently returned from UDA College Dance Nationals in Disney World. Immediately, I was determined to focus my Documentary on not only the Nationals experience, but my team experience as a whole.
Continue reading “Our Honor Defend – A Dance Team Documentary”
Analyzing A Documentary Film
There is something naturally peaceful about a garden. Regardless of where it is or what it holds, the colors and the diversity found within it leave one curious while also providing us with a step away from reality. In the case of David May’s Documentary, “A Place Like This,” the garden holds a similar symbolic meaning.
Paige St. John 
