From Italy to New York: Scholarship Recipients Reflect on Transformative Summers

Photo Courtesy of Alice Stern

Each year, the Emory Friends of Dance Summer Scholarship program supports dance majors and minors in pursuing intensive study opportunities across the globe. This past summer, three students traveled to world-renowned programs that expanded their artistry and reaffirmed their passion for movement. Read on to learn more about their experiences!

Nadia Piecyk
Doug Varone and Dancers (DOVA) Winter Intensive
New York City, New York

At an experience she describes as "nothing short of transformative", Nadia shares,  "I could never have imagined how much I would grow - in movement, mindset, and artistry.”

Learning solos from Rise, Lux, and a Chopin Nocturne taught by Varone himself, she reflected on the power of presence: “Doug advised us to let go of any need to perform the dance and instead to just exist in the space. I felt deeply connected to my body, the room, and the authenticity of movement.” She returns to Emory with renewed clarity and gratitude: “The conversations I had throughout the week brought me greater clarity about my future in dance. I’m so grateful to Friends of Dance for supporting my continued education.”

Emmaline Lim

staibdance Summer Intensive

Sorrento, Italy

For Emma, the staibdance Summer Intensive “profoundly expanded my understanding of dance and my own artistry.”

Unlike the ballet-centered programs she’d known, this one invited risk, collaboration, and experimentation. “I was pushed out of my comfort zone into a diverse range of movement styles - from West African fusion with Monique Jonas to the instinctual flow of Gaga with Gavriel Spitzer,” she said. “I learned to value sensation over perfection.”

Emma shared that her biggest revelation was shifting her relationship to performance: “Instead of asking what the audience was supposed to understand, I asked, how does this feel in my body? That shift allowed me to find deeper honesty in my dancing."

Alice Stern
American Dance Festival
Durham, North Carolina

Immersed in a legacy of modern and contemporary dance, Alice found herself both absorbing and contributing to a global movement community while at ADF.

“I studied the codified techniques of the modern legends like Limón and Dunham,” Alice shared, “and explored movement drawn from African roots - engaging with it as a study of a diaspora.” Through that process, she discovered what she calls “rooted movement, the concept that styles retain their source, and through recognizing that, our movement can deepen in intention.”

Returning to Emory, Alice carries with her a deepened understanding of the interconnectedness of movement and meaning: “I reenter the Emory dance community as a much more informed dancer with artistic autonomy and a more mature sense of craft.”

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Thank you to Nadia, Emma and Alice for sharing your summer stories! 

Click to learn more about the Emory Friends of Dance.