May Experience<\/a> course Sociology of Dance.<\/p>\nThe three-week course, offered for the second time at Furman, examines class struggles, gender roles, body image issues, history of dance, and the role of dance in popular culture. Students not only received instruction in classical ballet but also modern dance and creative movement with Jan Woodward at the Fine Arts Center in Greenville.<\/p>\n
\u201cI hope the course will cultivate students\u2019 interests in sociology,\u201d said Dr. Kolb. \u201cI hope they will be able to see that sociological analysis can be applied to anything.\u201d<\/p>\n
For some students, the course was an introduction to sociological concepts. For others, it provided a new perspective on dance and a new respect for the athleticism and grace of professional dancers.<\/p>\n
After practicing her first ballet movements at the barre, \u201cit made me wish that I could dance,\u201d said Meg Kennedy \u201917 of Kenilworth, Ill. \u201cI really wanted to get all the steps right.\u201d<\/p>\n
As students practiced pointing their painted blue toenails or gliding across the floor in athletic socks, Kelsey Crum, the theatre\u2019s coordinator of outreach and community engagement, and principal dancers Sam Chester and Adair Keller provided practical advice on proper techniques.<\/p>\n
\u201cIs this just the warm-up?\u201d asked Stefan McManus \u201915, who grew up around dance with his mother, a dance teacher.<\/p>\n
McManus, a health sciences major from Great Falls, S.C., loved the Sociology 101 course he took in the spring and signed up for Kolb\u2019s May X course to learn more about why people act and think the way they do.<\/p>\n
\u201cDancing is also a great way to exercise,\u201d said McManus, who plans to enroll in a respiratory therapy program after graduation.<\/p>\n
While McManus was worried their dance skills may have been a disappointment to their teachers, Crum said that simply wasn\u2019t the case.<\/p>\n
\u201cI was truly impressed with the students\u2019 interest in dance and more specifically, the lives of Carolina Ballet Theatre\u2019s professional ballet dancers. The students asked questions that were quite relevant to artistry and showed a respect of classical dancers,\u201d said Crum.<\/p>\n
\u201cAn experience like this gives Furman students an opportunity to be involved in something unique, classical ballet,\u201d said Crum. \u201cIt provides students with a sense of passion, awareness, and exposure for something outside of their everyday lives.\u201d<\/p>\n
Greg Conn \u201915, a health sciences major from Charlotte, N.C., said the course and its opportunities held immediate appeal for him.<\/p>\n
\u201cI feel like I have a better understanding of how dance affected our culture in the past and how it affects us today,\u201d said Conn, who plans a career in physical or occupational therapy. \u201cI have always enjoyed dancing, even though I am not the best at it, and I\u2019m excited to teach others what I\u2019ve learned.\u201d<\/p>\n
Check out the May X Gallery<\/a> for more photos from this and other May Experience classes.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
The challenge was simple. Perform a graceful leap, a Grand Jete, over a glass of water without knocking it over. For Furman students learning classical ballet movements for the first […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":265,"featured_media":13393,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[15,54,35],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2916","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-academic-department-page","category-may-experience","category-parent-news"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.furman.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2916","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.furman.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.furman.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.furman.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/265"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.furman.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2916"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.furman.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2916\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.furman.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/13393"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.furman.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2916"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.furman.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2916"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.furman.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2916"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}