Handling academics with dance

[Robin G]

I'd like to hear how college dance majors are finding the load with their academics. How late do your rehearsals go? Any double majors out there!I've heard of late rehearsals till 1 AM at one school.Oye!

[Pierrette]

Ask me again after my daughter survives this semester with 14 academic credits and 12 dance credits (4 liberal arts classes, 5 technique classes, 2 ensembles for credit and a 1-credit injury prevention class).

 

Is that 1 am rehearsal a usual thing for that school, or the rare tech week occurrence?

 

Arizona's dance department recommends carrying two academic classes a semester and students have the choice of turning down any castings, so the load is what they make it. My daughter is trying to catch up from having had only one academic class last semester plus not testing out of her foreign language requirement. Her academic load was more normal at UArts and she handled that very well.

 

The problem for many freshmen dance majors is not with juggling the demands of dance and school, but with school and partying.

[Robin G]

Wow Pierrette,sounds like a lot of credits. My daughter will be pre med and the school eases them in while being a dance major. The school with the super late rehearsals-that's a usual thing a few times weekly-this wouldn't be good for my kid. This school also did not support pre med studies (or anything else) with the dance major,so...I have spoken to non-partying college dancers who have found it quite a juggle. I'm also sure freshman year is a big adjustment to life in general. It is helpful to hear any student advice from those,like your daughter,in the process. Please keep us updated!

[Ed McPherson]

I think its also important to realize that at large schools there is a wealth of classes to choose from, which means many easy and many hard. I am currently at Indiana, around 30,000 students. You can graduate from this program without taking a class that requires any amount of serious homework, or you can choose classes with more educational intent. I think in this respect students can self-moderate to a large degree.

 

In another respect being at a large institution is nice because many classes are offered at all the different times of day. I've never enjoyed waking up early to do lots of academic work and then go to ballet. There is almost nothing worse than getting to ballet class and feeling drained like its time for a nap. I found that I always dottled in the evenings after dinner before I started to do homework so when my academic load was heavy instead of taking 8:00am classes I decided to take them in the 7-9pm window.

 

I guess I've really enjoyed another aspect of the large institution feeling, you've really got me going Many of the classes offered at Indiana are offered in different length time blocks too. Ballet can really build a persons ability to focus, for longer than the average person might be able to I think. Why not use that? At Indiana, many of the underclassman general ed requirements can either be taken 3, 2, or 1 day a week. I took a sociology class from 6:30-9:30pm on Mondays one semester. It was a great decision, I really would have dreaded getting up 3 days a week at 8am. The teacher gave us a short break every hour. What's more, instead of having to stay up late and prepare homework to turn in those three days during the middle of the week, you could wait to do it all over the weekend when time is less scarce.

[tututrina3]

My friend at Juilliard loves it and says academics are not very tough. she is LOVING being there. Another dance major pal of mine has a prett heavy course load and many dance rehearsals. so, she is going to cut back on the # of courses she takes next fall. It's important to have an advisor help you with balance - and, i think, not to take such a big # of courses that you are overworked and overstressed.

[CKdance3]

At my school the Dance majors don't have much room in their schedule to chose academics until they are juniors or seniors. Until then there are core academic classes that are taken usually a few evenings a week. While it is a tiresome schedule, it is not unmanageable- especially the freshman year. Most schools know that freshman need time to adjust to a rigorous dance program.

[California Dancer]

My friend at Juilliard loves it and says academics are not very tough. she is LOVING being there. Another dance major pal of mine has a prett heavy course load and many dance rehearsals. so, she is going to cut back on the # of courses she takes next fall. It's important to have an advisor help you with balance - and, i think, not to take such a big # of courses that you are overworked and overstressed.

 

Hey, did your friend attend the Julliard Summer Intensives before she got into that college because I heard its very hard to get into Juilliard but its easier to get in if you go to their Summer Intensives. Have you gone to their intensives? Has She? Was it hard core or was it just right? I really want to go to that college.

[dancemaven]

Please remember that all responses on BT are required to be "first-hand" information, not information passed on from friend of a friend of a friend, etc.

[petitallegro]

I'm a student at Indiana University pursuing dual degrees in ballet and mathematics.

 

It's hard. Some weeks are harder than others. I have to budget my time very carefully during difficult weeks. I dance for 6 hours a day or so, and I take 13 credits each semester to fulfill general ed requirements and the mathematics degree when I'm not dancing. I try to take less rigorous general ed classes when I know that I have an especially hard math class, so that I will have time to get everything done.

 

One of the most difficult things has been learning to decide when sleep is more important than putting extra effort towards an assignment. In high school, I would always sacrifice the sleep if I could do more on homework. In college, I have learned that sometimes, when the going get tough, skimming a text instead of reading it or completing an assignment with less specificity in my answers than I might desire, and getting an extra two hours of sleep, can be the more healthy and productive choice. This was a difficult thing for me (a die-hard perfectionist) to realize. But i know that injury prevention and the demands of dancing require adequate rest.

 

That being said, I only sacrifice the schoolwork when it is absolutely necessary. In general, I spend a lot of time at the libraries and coffeshops around campus with my nose in a book. I think that studying can be a very rewarding contrast to my busy ballet day. It's so NICE to just sit down and concentrate on something that isn't moving every once in awhile...

 

Stephanie

[Robin G]

petitallegro, Thanks for sharing this. It's always a help to hear how one handles their dance and academic load.

[Tiffany]

I think that if your daughter really wants to be pre-med and dance, she will make it work. I have never been more stressed or busier or gotten sick more than now, in a B.S. in nursing program. I didn't know I could be this busy. Most of my nursing classmates have no time for outside activities. They are not dancers, they are not used to making time for something other than their boyfriend/girlfriend, family, etc. But, I look at dance as my stress relief & exercise, and I really need it like I need sleep and need good nutrition to keep me a healthy person. I take homework to rehearsal with me and do it while other things are being run. I always have an assignment with me if I will be somewhere I'll have to wait. If the TV is on, I'm usually working on something while I watch. Our teachers don't give very detailed outlines of the notes so my friends and I make our own notes. I would not be able to make all of the notes alone, it is wonderful to split this up with others. I do things as far in advance as possible. I never studied with others until college. Tell your daughter to try to make friends to study with or that atleast will hold her accountable with studying-that helps me a lot. And then you have someone to help you understand things you might not get and vice versa. Your daughter is a dancer, she is disciplined, she knows how to manage her time, she knows how to eat right, she knows how not to party and how to get enough sleep, so she is better prepared than the average college freshman just in that respect.

 

One thing that I remember from my first year of college was feeling so tired. I was not dancing much then, 7 years ago, I worked out at the gym some, but I was so tired my mom had me get my thyroid level checked to make sure it wasn't low. It was normal. I think it was just stress. I also started getting acne more when I started college than I did in high school-probably just stress too. I made good grades, but I was still very stressed. My stress is better now.

 

On a scary note, I was flipping through and saw on Oprah that the valedictorian of a high school was completely unprepared for college and was basically a year behind or something like that-I don't know what they meant by that. Yikes. Really scary to think that you work that hard and can't walk into a basic class like precalculus (I believe she listed that). I think better of my high school now!

[Pierrette]

Earlier on this thread I wrote:

Ask me again after my daughter survives this semester with 14 academic credits and 12 dance credits (4 liberal arts classes, 5 technique classes, 2 ensembles for credit and a 1-credit injury prevention class).

I'd like to take this opportunity to announce that my daughter not only "survived" this semester, she earnerd straight A's!

 

Add to the above list two additional ensembles that couldn't count for credit because the Dean's office felt that 25 credits was the absolute max with special overrides (she took her 1-credit Pointe class as an audit) and you might understand why I thought it was only possible for her to "survive" this semester with mere passing grades. I can barely grasp how she did it. At the end of the semester, when performances rolled around and extra tech rehearsals were required, three of her academic classes also required group final projects.

 

Despite DD's amazing accomplishment, this is not a schedule that we'd recommend for any dancer and DD is going to take care to never repeat this experience. It required many nights of only 4 hours of sleep and many missed meals with only crackers or snack bars consumed on the run. One thing is for certain, however: succeeding under this kind of schedule is certainly great training for any future profession.

[Robin G]

What a great year for your daughter, Pierette! After a schedule like this it'll be cake from here on! And it must be nice to have her back for a while.

[mcrm55]

Wow! I'm so impressed with your daughter, Pierrette! and with you, Petitallegro! My little dd is only 12, and she is just beginning the process of learning to balance her schoolwork with her ballet. I am going to make her read these posts to see what is in store for her!