Everyone at Tulane should take a dance class

With the never-ending anxiety of homework, clubs, and busy social schedules, dance is a healthy and fun way to de-stress.  Whether you want to tie up your pointe shoe ribbons for intense ballet classes every day or let your hair loose once a week in a fun jazz class, Tulane is the perfect place for you.

Don’t worry if you’ve never taken a dance class before — Tulane offers a myriad of dance courses, from ballet to Caribbean, at all different levels and paces.  And even if you don’t think you have an aptitude for movement and rhythm, the amazing dance faculty works to create a positive, open environment in order to coax the dancer out of you.

I recently sat down with Stephen Alemais, Tulane junior shortstop, who has “taken enough dance classes to major in it.”

Before coming to Tulane, he had never taken any kind of dance class.  When I asked him what had made him and his teammates decide to try it out, he said, “Dance has a lot to do with core and coordination, so I thought it would help with sports; I thought it would be a good elective.”

Whether you’re sitting in the hallway of the third floor of McWilliams Hall waiting for your ballet class to start, or viewing Tulane’s Campus Story on Snapchat, you’re bound to catch a glimpse of an athlete.  Although Stephen found the classes harder than he expected them to be, overall, he felt that they helped him.

“You’re using different muscles than you normally would in sports.  I discovered a lot of parts of my body that I hadn’t activated before; I feel like the classes helped me in baseball.”

I asked him how the dance classes affected him personally, to which he replied, “It opened me up to enjoy different types of dance.  Dance is a sport — but it’s also an art.  People underestimate it, they don’t know how hard it is on your body.”

 I wanted to know if he would recommend beginner dancers to take classes, since he had never previously taken one, “Yes, definitely. It broadens your horizons and opens up your mind. Not everyone’s good. You’re doing badly but so is everyone else. Taking a dance class is a great way to meet new people and get a workout in at the same time.”

If you’re from the opposite end of the spectrum and are looking for advanced dance classes, don’t worry, Tulane has those too.  I personally partake in Ballet IV on Tuesdays and Thursdays for my ritual morning workout and wakeup.

My classmate and friend, Alexandra Bookis, has been dancing since she was five, and has continued to dance throughout college.

“Before coming to Tulane, in high school, I was dancing five to six days a week, about twenty hours a week.  I trained at my town’s ballet school and was a member of a pre-professional company located in the greater Boston area, where I performed about three to four times a year,” Alexandra said.

Dance was an important factor in choosing Tulane because she wanted to be able to take ballet, as well as modern and jazz without having to major in dance.

When I asked her what she thought about Tulane’s dance program, she said “I think it’s really wonderful. There’s a wide variety of classes to choose from and the professors all have incredible training and experience. I love the vibe and the attitude that all of these students and teachers have. Everyone really cares and works hard, but at the same time, it’s not a super competitive atmosphere.”

Because of the incredible dance faculty at Tulane, Alexandra was given a special opportunity this past December when her dance professor, Diogo De Lima set her and three other Tulane dancers up with the New Orleans Ballet Theater to perform in their Nutcracker.

“It was great to be able to do this performance.  I’ve done the Nutcracker every year since I was eight.  But this was a step up and a new experience for me because I got to work with professionals from the surrounding area, which I didn’t expect coming to Tulane,”  Alexandra said.

I asked her if she would recommend others, beginner and advanced, to take classes, to which she said, “Absolutely.  For people that have danced in the past, I don’t think it’s something you should give up in college.  It’s a great way to stay active, relieve stress, and to meet other people.  Plus we could always use more dancers in the performances.”

No matter how good or bad you are, Tulane’s dance classes are the perfect way to stay active, meet new people, and most of all, have fun.  Instead of taking another academic class in order to fill credits or boost your GPA, try out a dance class; it’ll do all that and much more.

Twirl into next semester and find your inner dancer.