College or Company?

Higher education opens new options

By Kate Mattingly

“Sometimes college dancers have this feeling that ‘If I were really good, I’d be in a company or at Juilliard,’” says Nick Pabst, a graduate of Goucher College in Baltimore who now dances with Sacramento Ballet. “Personally, if I hadn’t spent four years in a college setting I probably would have burned out.” In fact, college can offer valuable experiences whether or not a professional career is in your future.
Katie Langan, chair of the dance department at Marymount Manhattan College, points to the advantages of a liberal arts education: “You learn so much aesthetically and artistically. One of the things you graduate with is the ability to articulate what dance is about.”
Elizabeth Ahearn, assistant professor at Goucher, agrees. “The liberal arts experience prepares students for varied aspirations, whether it is as a performer, critic, physical therapist, doctor, or educator.”
If students still want to perform after they graduate, they likely will emerge from college with proficiency in more than ballet. At MMC, students are offered classes in ballet, modern, tap, jazz and musical theater. “To narrow your training to modern and ballet overlooks other options that are out there,” says Langan. “Dancers need to consider how they are going to support themselves, and there are more opportunities to dance if they are comfortable in styles beyond ballet and modern.”
Goucher graduate Amy Ruggiero, who is now at Ballet Austin, says college enriched her technique. “If I had tried to get a job out of high school, I wouldn’t have any of the knowledge or skills in modern dance. That’s so important now, when pretty much all ballet companies have contemporary work in their repertory,” she says.
While many high school students struggle alone to decided between career or college, at the Walnut Hill School, a private arts school in Boston, students are actively counseled to make the best choice for themselves. “We try to give students as much information as we can about their options in an honest and professional way,” says Stephanie Perrin, head of Walnut Hill. “Sometimes the real world isn’t what a student imagines it to be. Fortunately, now there are colleges and universities where you can get terrific dance training as well as a liberal arts education.”
Serena Orloff, who danced with Miami City Ballet and then completed her undergraduate degree at the University of California, Berkeley, says, “This decision isn’t just about the way to become the best dancer, or the most successful. It’s about the way to develop into a confident person who can take well-calculated risks, have the confidence to step out on a limb, and also the strength to pick herself up after the fact, if something doesn’t work out.”

Kate Mattingly writes about dance in the U.S. and abroad.

A version of this article first appeared in Pointe, October/November, 2006.