September 2009
by Nicole Rhoden

During the back to school season, the staff at Chicago Dance Supply is always thrilled to receive a bustling new mix of dancers, from the seasoned professional to the nervous and excited rookie. Some of the most refreshing of these clientele are new adult students, who often betray themselves by their cautious glances at our form-fitting dance attire (Don’t worry, it looks great on you!). One school in particular, Loyola University, has been sending an unexpected number of new young adult dancers our way. These future scientists, business leaders, teachers, and nurses may not be pursuing a dance career, but they are taking a commendable leap that could offer surprising benefits.

Loyola has been offering dance courses since the 2006-2007 school year and added a dance minor program in 2007. The dance course list includes ballet, pointe, jazz, modern, dance composition, dance history and dance physiology. A dance course is not required for all majors at Loyola, but students must meet an “Artistic Knowledge” core curriculum requirement that can be fulfilled by dance electives.

While some of the students seem a bit tentative about what they are getting into (and the guys don’t seem exactly thrilled with the prospect of dance belts) these students may gain more from the experience than they expect. According to Sandra Kaufmann, director of the dance program at Loyola, dance builds skills that are useful in nearly every career field. “We absolutely feel that the opportunity to explore your relationship to your body in such a positive and inspiring way has many benefits for the health and enjoyment of all students,” Kaufmann explains. “Dance requires critical thinking skills, pattern recognition, cooperative learning, and integration of multiple domains: physical, spatial, musical and logical.” What’s more, physical activity is an effective stress reliever, which we can only imagine is a huge plus while preparing for molecular biology finals.

Are there any plans for a Dance major to be added to Loyola’s list of academic programs? “Yes!” says Kaufmann, “We have plans to offer a dance major, however we have not been given a time frame for that major to be in place. All of the coursework and other crucial elements are in place, but we are waiting for another full time faculty position and a production season for dance to be approved.” Chicago Dance Supply looks forward to this growth in Loyola’s dance department and wishes the best of luck to all of its students!

For more information on Loyola’s School of Visual and Performing Arts, visit http://www.luc.edu/dfpa/Academics_1.shtml. For a list of dance events at Loyola, visit http://blogs.luc.edu/artsalive/dance-events-2009-10/.