Dance major Aryanna Allen spent this past summer training at the American Dance Festival Summer Intensive at Duke University. Ary, along with two other Friends of Dance Scholarship recipients, trained for nearly six weeks in classes such as Gaga, Limon, and Shen Wei Repertory. Pictured above is Aryanna with one of her instructors, Gerri Houlihan, an esteemed modern dance professor at Florida State University.
Read on to find out more about her experiences!
*Responses have been edited for length and clarity
This summer, I was given the opportunity to to attend the American Dance Festival (ADF) at Duke University for five and a half weeks. My initial goal for the summer was to increase my technical skill as a dancer. I did not yet know the true impact that this nurturing environment would have on my mentality and outlook on the professional dance world. Four days a week, I took Gaga with Saar Harari, Limon with Gerri Houlihan, and Shen Wei Dance Arts Repertory with Sara Procopio. The other three days per week were filled with guest auditions, master classes, discussions, and rehearsals. In the process, I was also cast in four student choreographed pieces. While reflecting on the summer, I realized that in addition to technical development, I felt myself grow a lot as a person and as an artist. My weekly classes fostered a lot of this growth but the performances, guest artists, and discussions I attended also played a huge role in my experience. Each of these opportunities were so unique and powerful that it is difficult to summarize. In total, I was able to take 83 dance classes, see 16 performances, attend 21 rehearsals, participate in 4 student choreographed works, and learn/perform with an amazing repertory cast. The ability to cross train many disciplines, work with respected dancers, and encounter such diverse opinions made me look at dance through a different lens. I now have a better sense of who I am as a dancer and where I’d like to be going within the artform. Before this summer, I wanted dance in my life, now it is a necessity.
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