River Campus to celebrate 10th Dance Day

The Conservatory of Theatre and Dance will host Dance Day at 10 a.m. on Saturday, Nov. 19, at the River Campus. Now in its 10th year, Dance Day is an opportunity for regional high school students interested in dance to take master classes taught by professional university faculty and alumni.

Assistant professor and coordinator of dance Hilary Peterson said Dance Day exposes high school students to new dance ideas and different styles of dance. The full day of master classes includes ballet, modern and jazz, with students having the option also to take either contemporary dance or hip-hop, which will be taught by dance alumni.

"It's a really great opportunity for us to kind of see what's out there in dance in the regional area, as well as for the students to come and study with us for a day and to study with professionals," Peterson said.

Dance Day is not only a recruitment event for the Conservatory of Theatre and Dance, but also an event that serves the community. Dance Day gives high school students who study dance at local studios a chance to come and experience it in a more serious environment. It's open to high school freshmen through seniors at no charge.

At the first Dance Day 10 years ago, 12 students were in the program. This year, 60-plus students from all over the region will be participating, including students from as far away as Indiana, Chicago and Memphis, Tennessee.

Southeast dance students, many of whom attended Dance Day when they were in high school, will volunteer during the event to help the high school students throughout the day.

One of the Southeast students who will be volunteering during Dance Day is Kaetlyn Lamberson. She first attended the event when she was a sophomore in high school at the urging of her studio dance teacher in Poplar Bluff, Missouri. She returned for her junior and senior year. Lamberson said she used her senior year as an audition for entrance into the Bachelor of Fine Arts program at Southeast.

"It was just a great opportunity to take master classes from teachers that I hadn't had in styles that weren't available at my studio," Lamberson said.

Peterson said it's important to have Southeast students available during Dance Day to guide the high school students with any questions they may have.

Registration ends Wednesday, Nov. 16. More information is available at semo.edu/theatreanddance.