ADAY makes effort to put spotlight on dancers

JULIA TIERNAN/YH Yaledancers shows off its stuff

As a university rich in visual and performing artists, Yale features arts programs as prestigious as its academic ones—with one glaring exception: dance. The Alliance for Dance at Yale (ADAY) hopes to strengthen the neglected program, however, with its second annual Yale Dance Symposium on Sat., Oct. 9.

Yale's arts programs shine compared to their Ivy League brethren. In its annual rankings of graduate schools, U.S. News and World Report placed the Yale School of Drama first in the nation, and its Master of Fine Arts program second. Yale's School of Architecture also consistently ranks high. Yet would-be dancers at Yale have few opportunities on campus, despite the proximity of New York's performance resources and Connecticut College's nationally renowned dance program.

Kristy Greenberg, CC '01, development director of ADAY, complained about the lack of an institutionalized dance program at Yale. "When people think of Yale they think of prestigious performing arts programs, but while Yale has departments devoted to music, theater, and visual arts, it lacks a dance department," she said. Yale has no formal department devoted to dance, although Professor Robert Thompson's New York Mambo class includes dance and performance as part of its curriculum, and the Theater Studies department will offer a History of Dance course next term. However, as Sidra Bell, SY '01, pointed out, "It isn't often that classes are given specifically in the technique of dance." Students interested in practicing dance technique devote their time and energy to one of Yale's seven student-organized dance groups, such as Yaledancers and A Different Drum.

Recently, however, dance devotees at Yale have made efforts to expand extracurricular dance options. In the spring of 1998, Bell and Elana Aquino, SM '00, founded ADAY "in response for the demand for better and more opportunities to learn about and explore dance," Bell said.

The Yale Dance Symposium is another effort to bring attention to dance at Yale. The event, which will include eight keynote speakers, performances, and a number of workshops, has secured nationally prominent artists from dance companies including Alvin Ailey, Martha Graham and the New York City Ballet. Bell explained, "Events of this scope are unprecedented at Yale. Our goal is to show a broad spectrum of dance forms and show the Yale community how vital dance is to human expression."

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