<p>I have a daughter who is a dancer, and am seeking some advice from the parents of dancers in shaping the dance resume. Unlike music or sports activites, dance seems to be harder to get a recognition. I heard of some schools with Varsity dance troop, but my daughter's school doesn't participate. Also, there is no county or state level concerts or competitions in dance in our state. She goes to a dance school and dance many hours per week, but that is pretty much it.</p>
<p>Since it is the activity she loves most and spends most of her time, I am thinking about what she can do to get some recognition and I'd like to hear from other parents about their experience.</p>
<p>Hi, Alummom, and welcome. What kind of dance does your daughter do? Does she intend to pursue dance professionally? Major in it? Has she studied at any summer intensives, workshops, master classes, etc? Does she also teach, or perhaps perform for, groups of seniors, school children, or younger kids? What kind of performances does she do - are they limited to her dance school, or does she also perform at her high school or elsewhere in her community?</p>
<p>I think the answers to these and similar questions can help her start to shape her resume. Dance is also my youngest d's major interest, and she came up with a one-page resume emphasizing local performances and her experience assisting her studio director in teaching a children's class. She also listed briefly the hours per week she spends in each discipline (ballet, modern, and jazz in my d's case).</p>
<p>My d also prepared a short (8-minute) dance DVD, which she submitted with her applications to those schools that would accept it (not all do). </p>
<p>You might want to check out the Art Majors and Musical Theatre forums (those folks know resumes cold). I'd also recommend doing a CC search. If you start just by searching for "dance" in the Parent's Forum, you'll come up with a number of helpful threads.</p>
<p>I will be facing something similar in 2 years and would be curious to hear the responses you get. My d dances 10 hours per week, but unlike yours she participates in a "competition team." It's still not easy to put on a resume, though. It's at a studio, not part of the high school, and the competitions we attend are run by for-profit companies that do tours of competitions all over the country. Although all are similar, each has its own judging guidelines and its own awards levels. I plan to tell d to list the number of hours she spends per week, the types of dance she studies, the number of dances she is in, and any particularly high awards she or her team receives. D does not want to continue dance in college except perhaps on an EC level, so we don't need to get admitted to a performing program - just want colleges to understand the level of commitment required.</p>
<p>My D was a serious ballet dancer. She moved away from home to study at a pre-pro studio soph/jr years, and spent all summers until following jr year at ballet intensives. In her application she included her resume, which detailed ballet program, no hours/week, performances and (major) roles. Contact me if you want a sample.</p>
<p>I greatly appreciate all of your detailed and thoughtful responses. I don't think my D would major in dance, but a college with a nice dance program is one of important conditions in her college search. My D has danced for more than 10 years and is concentrating on ballet and modern these days. My D participated in a dance intensive last summer, and she will try another one next year. </p>
<p>One problem we are facing is that her dance school is down-sizing, especially at an advanced level. Her dance school is not competition oriented, and my D likes that setting. Although she may include how long she has been studying, how many recitals, etc., but it is not easy for her to add some recognitions such as competition winning and awards. We live in a small town, and there is a very limited opportunity for such events.</p>
<p>frazzled1 , thank you for a suggestion to reach out to the community by teaching and performing. That would be a great experience for my D.</p>
<p>My daughter has been dancing since she was three and is up to 14 hours per week. She will not be majoring in dance, but may possibly minor and wants to have at least some classes in college. She made it quite clear in her essays and her activity descriptions just how involved she is. I don't think it hurt her at all in her college admissions. (Her studio rarely competes any more). Hope this info is useful.</p>
<p>Just as a preface, I don't do dance, but I'm in a similar situation. I ride horses (20+ hours a week - yes, really!, not including a 2 hour round trip to my barn and the upwards of 8+ hours round trip to horse shows) for a private barn. It is definitely one of the passions of my life, but I always worried that it wouldn't be taken as seriously as a sport that was organized through school. I definitely identify with the OP...its tough feeling like your commitment/sacrifices (which can be time/emotional/personal/economic) will go unrecognized because your sport isn't a popular varsity sport at school.</p>
<p>My best advice is to really emphasize your passion in your essays. Discuss how dance impacts who you are and how much time/effort you put into it. Also, try and get out and spread beyond just dancing in the studio. Share your passion by mentoring younger students or sharing your talent for the community.</p>
<p>My daughter did not want to major in dance, but did prepare a dance resume as as well as a 3 minute DVD showing highlights of 2 or 3 pieces she had choreographed. The resume included a list of the various studios she had attended, with years and genre indicated; a list of some of the parts she had performed on stage; a mention of 1 or 2 of the more notable dance competition wins; a list of works she had choreographed, including some in production; and a small photo of herself in first arabesque. Since my d. had been dancing since age 4 and had performed with one well known dance company and a local youth ballet, I think this really demonstrated the depth of her commitment. Bottom line, the resume showed she really cared about dance and placed high value on what she had done. </p>
<p>I want to note something, though: a poster above wrote, I plan to tell d to list... -- that may just be an unfortunate choice of words ("tell" rather than "suggest") -- but I want to emphasize that my d's dance resume came from her heart. The only thing I did was suggest that she consolidate a little so that she could get the original 2-page resume all onto one page, and I did help jiggering things on the word processor to make it all happen. I don't think any applicant should feel compelled to a do a resume -- if its just a matter of listing hours, that is something that could just as easily go in the activities section of the common app -- or be part of an essay or short answer.</p>
<p>Does your daughter use her dance skills for anything else? For example, dancers at our school who dance outside of school help to choreograph musicals, teach PE dance classes, start dance clubs, etc. Using one's dance talents in other ways is one way to fill out a resume that does not include awards and competitions.</p>
<p>My daughter also has danced since she was a tot. Classes along were 17+ hours a week, not including rehearsals and performances. While she did list on her resume her hours, ballets she performed in, and any lead rolls, she did not include recitals.</p>
<p>Like many others, her essays were where the school heard her passion and understood why she wasn't in 10 clubs at school due to a commitment to ballet. As a parent I wasn't sure I was sad or overjoyed by her emotion in her essays. She spoke of missing parties, school sporting events, out of town trips, nights on the phone or computer with her friends , spending the night out because she had rehearsal or a performance in the morning. At the same time she said ballet kept her grounded, allowed her to be the poised young woman she was, exposed her to a world of artist that she would have never know and she would never trade her time at the studio even when she did grumble about it sometimes.</p>
<p>I believe my daughter essay's were what showed her time and her commitment to dance, not her resume; although she did need to have the resume also.</p>
<p>My d's major EC was also dance, but she didn't want to major in it. She was at a studio that didn't compete and didn't do ballets in which she could have a "role", but just did dances. She took ballet, jazz and tap (no modern). She listed her years of dancing, hours per week in what genre. She listed all her summer intensive/dance camp experiences. </p>
<p>Then we noticed her theater experience and her teaching experience. So she broke the activities into 3 sections: pure dance, teaching and theater. Grouping these activities together, rather than a pure chronology, showed the depth of her experience.</p>
<p>Both of my daughters also danced their entire lives starting at a young age and for many hours per week in various dance disciplines. First, I want to mention that colleges DO understand and value ECs like dance. They like to see kids commited and dedicated to areas of interest and for one thing, the sheer number of hours per week devoted to the activity over many years already says something positive. Another point I wish to make is that "achievements" need not be NAMED awards. There are many ways to show achievement or leadership, etc. that are not an award, a title, or a competition. </p>
<p>Our dance studio did not do competitions and there are no dance teams here. Actually, they didn't believe in that. It was about the training, although there were yearly performances. There was a select teen jazz dance repertory company open by audition for high school aged dancers and so getting into that was an achievement and was listed on the activity resume (which was annotated) under dance. This group performed around the region. There was also a select tap dance troupe my girls were in. I can think of a few other achievements or leadership in dance. My younger daughter choreographed tap dance numbers for their tap troupe that were performed regionally, even though most numbers were choreographed by teachers. My older daughter was asked in her senior year to take over as the tap dance teacher for a class of middle school aged girls since the teacher had to take a leave. She taught the class and choreographed their numbers for the annual performance. So, I think that choreography and/or teaching kids are areas that a dancer can go another step (sorry for the pun) beyond the usual. Also, as I said, they got into dance troupes by audition, but there were no competitions. We didn't have roles in the dances but if by chance your studio has roles, such as in ballets, those could be listed on a resume. Any summer training programs also show commitment to their area of interest. Perhaps your dancer is in school musicals and that would tie in. I recall over the years where we live that some teen dancers have started some dance classes after school at the elementary school for kids who may not be able to go to a dance studio (the dance studio is 25 miles away) and that is another type of leadership within this field. </p>
<p>Definitely list each dance discipline and number of hours per week, and weeks per year and total number of years of involvement. If your child has been dancing for example, for 14 years, mention that on the resume and not just "grades 9-12". Someone made the suggestion of one essay revolving around this area of passion and that is also a good idea. My own girls were involved in many other ECs other than dance but dance was one big one. One of my kids is in college studying musical theater. The other is not dancing now, except actually as a senior at college, she is taking a course in African Dance and enjoying it and I am glad she has had a chance to be back at it (dance was only one of her big EC areas over the years).</p>
<p>Hello everyone; I am going to add a different view of this subject! My SON is a very dedicated dancer and has been since the age of 9 when he went to his younger sisters first recital and declared"that is what I want to do". So we signed him up for a beginner class and here we are 9 years later.He has won many regional titles and competed Nationally as well. He does all forms of dance- tap, ballet, modern, lyrical, jazz and musical theater. He has no plans to major in this but in fact his college essay was all about the comparisons of a dancer and an Engineer! I'm sure he will probably continue with some forms of dance in college as it has been such a huge part of his life for the past 9 years. Tap is his favorite style of dance and he expresses his emotions through his dancing.
He spends many hours each week at the studio; taking classes as well as teaching. This exposure has played a definite role in him becoming who he is today; the confidence and experiences are priceless! We listed his dance experience everywhere we could on applications, as EC's etc. We definitely feel this helped him with his acceptance rate into all of the Engineering programs he applied to. He has made his choice and we feel he will be very comfortable in this setting whether he chooses to continue his dance or not. The friendships he has made over the years are wonderful and I'm sure will continue into his college years! Good luck with your dancing daughters!</p>
<p>Hi, I am trying to get CC to start a Dance Majors forum. It would be great if you could all go to the Forum Issues section and find my thread and post support of a Forum for Dance Majors. :)</p>
<p>Calmom, you're right - poor choice of words on my part. I know my d though, and she has already asked me how she is supposed to let colleges know about all the time she spends at dance, and she's only in 10th grade. She was concerned that there wouldn't be a way for her to convey the depth of her commitment since the activity wasn't associated with her high school. So when she asked (and she will ask again, I'm sure, when the time comes to do her applications) I will respond by explaining to her how to list the number of hours, etc.</p>
<p>Momneedadvice:
One thing my D did is created an Activities Summary sheet that went with all her college applications. Since some college apps actually ask about EC activities by name and hours participated, your D WILL be able to illustrate the depth of her commitment.</p>
<p>As soozievt has mentioned, colleges definitely appreciate the discipline that a serious dancer has developed. My D was a very serious, pre-pro ballet dancer who ultimately decided not to go the professional route and focused on getting a degree in the sciences, yet insisted on continuing a high level of ballet training in college. I firmly believe that in addition to her excellent academic performance, her artistic performances impressed the adcoms just as much. </p>
<p>And many colleges need dancers, just like they need the violinist or the tennis player.</p>
<p>One interesting common thread I've observed over the years is that a very high percentage of dedicated dancers are also fantastic students. I think this is due, in part, because they MUST learn how to organize their time and study efficiently. When a dancer is putting in 25+ hours a week at the studio in class/rehearsals, it becomes critical to develop very strong organizational skills and ability to focus on the task at hand.</p>
<p>One thing she's really enjoyed at college is the fact the classes actually count for credit, that her "EC" is part of her studies. For years, ballet was completely independent of her school day and very few really understood the level of commitment this "extracurricular" required.</p>
<p>My D is also a dancer who has danced since the age of three. She was fortunate enough that her high school did have a dance team. Although it
wasn't in the varsity sport category, it was considered a school EC. She did become a captain of this dance team senior year. </p>
<p>To convey her passion for dance, D wrote about how dance has shaped her
life for her short essay. She included in the essay the hours spent in the dance studio from an early age. She was on a competitive dance company through her studio and her school dance team competed, but she did not list awards won. D also had self-choreographed her solo routine for her high school dance team show. This dance portrayed, as Alumother said, who she was as a person. She had planned to submit that video, however, there was a glitch with the filming and her dance unfortunately did not get recorded. She also submitted an activities profile (which her high
school required) that was mailed to schools to which she applied which included the many hours spent in the studio and the types of dance she was involved in. Another thing her school dance team did was particpate in the school musicals where dancers were required. The theater dept. did 42nd Street one year, and the entire dance team participated.</p>
<p>D also spoke of her love for dance during her admissions interview. She applied to schools which had some type of dance team/troupe/ensemble.</p>
<p>Ultimately, D ended up at a school with a dance ensemble, for which she had planned to audition. However she ended up having to post-pone this for a year due
to spinal surgery the summer before freshman year of college. She had a stress fracture in her lower back, also known as "dancer's or gymnast's back". This resulted from many years of bending backwards. Surgery was successful and she plans to audition for the dance ensemble for sophomore year.</p>