The evolution of dance

Last weekend’s student dance performance, November Dances, reflects the astonishing growth of the dance program, reminding us that Duke, a university known for its students’ academic and athletic successes, contains an incredible wealth of artistic talent. The students who performed and choreographed pieces for November Dances wove a series of intricate stories with their bodies, assembling alternatively beautiful and bracing scenes with athleticism, sophistication and panache. The performance was gripping, and we congratulate the dance program—its students, instructors and supporters—on their success.

The expansion of Duke’s dance program in the 1970s was catalyzed by the American Dance Festival, a week-long celebration of dance that takes places every year in Durham and that put down roots here in 1977. The current achievements of the program and its participants do not stem from ADF alone . In the last decade, Duke has placed the cultivation of the arts high on its list of institutional priorities, devoting considerable attention and resources to University’s arts programs. In its most recent strategic plan, released in 2006, Duke committed to breathing new life into the arts. As the success of the dance program reveals, Duke has begun, in most areas, to make good on its commitment.

Dance seems to have achieved a particular cachet at Duke. Duke actively recruits dancers, and the quality of dance instruction at the University sets it apart from other top colleges. Moreover, dance groups like Defmo and Dhamaka enjoy a high profile on campus, and their performances tend to draw big crowds. These groups collaborate on several well-attended dance showcases that speak to the popularity and visibility of dance on campus. Duke also offers a number of dance classes for students without dance training and, in doing so, has created a culture that places considerable value on dance as an artistic practice and cultural form.

In addition to increasing the quality and visibility of dance and other art on campus, Duke has worked hard to provide students interested in the arts opportunities to translate their passion into careers.

Of the professional guidance programs Duke offers for arts students, DEMAN weekend is the most notable. Devoted to providing students information about careers in the arts and entertainment industries, DEMAN serves an incredibly important role on a campus for which professional success too-often means folding into the crowds headed to law, medicine, consulting or finance. Even as it offers sobering advice about the difficulties of an artistic career, DEMAN weekend not only heartens students, but also gives them resources, often in the form of professional contacts, that they can use to launch careers.

We are pleased by the growth of the arts at Duke. And, once again, we congratulate the dance program on a wonderful performance.