The Rocket

Issue date: 11/2/07 Section: Focus

Media Credit: Submitted Photo [Click to enlarge]

Being at a school where a lot of students are either education or exercise science majors, it can be easy for undergrads in other majors to get lost in the shuffle.

But when a department makes sure that it remains highly visible on campus, that department is usually made up of individuals not willing to fade into the background.

That is the case with SRU's dance department.

"A lot of what happens in other departments is behind closed doors," said Nora Ambrosio, a professor in and chairperson of the dance department. "But what we do is so public."

Ambrosio, who is in her 20th year at SRU, said she believes that while in the past some professors from other departments didn't really understand what the dance department did, it really does not happen much anymore.

"I think the community and administration really values us as a department," Ambrosio said.

"We just had close to 700 people at our Faculty Dance Concert. There's not a whole lot of events on campus that can say that."

With 114 dance majors and about 30 dance minors, the program is small, but Ambrosio said this doesn't mean that it's an easy major.

"There is a big misconception that dance is an easy major," Ambrosio said. "But we have one of the highest QPA requirements in all majors, being 3.0 overall and a 2.7 in the major."

LaMar Williams Jr., a freshman dance major from Erie, Pa., is one of the three male dance majors on campus.

Williams, 18, said he thinks some people under appreciate the dance department for many reasons.

"When people see something they're not used to, they don't see it as unique," Williams said. "People need to broaden their horizons and look at it as art."

Williams, who has been dancing since childhood, only started technical dancing a year ago.

Though some people overlook the dance department as just being a "fun" major, many do not take into account the physical skills associated with the art of dance.

"It is fun," Ambrosio said, "but it is incredibly hard work. There are long hours and it's physical activity that's not seasonal. Dancers can't have any downtime because of what that would do to their muscles."

Continued...

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