In October, 170 high school students arrived at the Charlotte York Irey Theatre on the CU-Boulder campus, dance shoes in hand, for the largest High School Dance Day yet. The annual outreach event is designed to give high schoolers a taste of college, specifically of a college dance program.

“High School Dance Day is a way to bring high school students to campus to show them the quality of teaching and instruction we have here,” said Nii Armah Sowah, senior instructor in the CU-Boulder Dance Department. “In a university, dance is more expansive. We go through the history and foundations, and put dance in context. This event is when a lot of the students realize that dance is bigger than the physical.”

Seventeen high schools from the Denver and Boulder areas were represented this year, along with a student from Crested Butte, Colorado, and one from Pittsford, New York. Twenty-five CU-Boulder dance students helped facilitate the day-long event.

“High School Dance Day gives CU an opportunity to get our name out there, especially for a small (dance) department,” said Gabrielle Whitcomb, a CU-Boulder junior. “It was fun to hear the high schoolers say, ‘This is such a cool campus,’ and to see their liveliness when I walked them to Carlson and back.”

The event was held  on Friday, Oct. 23 and it was free and open to high school students. Seniors were invited to audition for scholarships and for the BFA program. Attendees picked from nine classes over three sessions; the classes ranged from the more traditional ballet and jazz, to the more innovative transnational fusion and dance in the digital diaspora.

A midday African dance class, accompanied by live music, was a favorite for many participants.

“The African class showed us how to loosen up and have fun,” said Aubree Nave, 15, who is a sophomore at East High School in Denver. “I love how energetic it is!”

Toward the end of the African dance class, half of the students danced while the other half sang, providing the music to dance to. Sowah and Samantha Salters, a graduate student in the Dance Department, co-taught the class to the sounds of African singing and drumming.

“African dance happens in the context of celebration,” said Sowah, who is from Ghana. “Our doors are open. Anyone who has an interest in dance is welcome to visit our building and share in what we do.”

High School Dance Day is also an opportunity for faculty and staff from the Dance http://www.colorado.edu/theatredance/dance-divisionDepartment to give back to the community.

“It’s an opportunity for us to be engaged at a really deep level, to know the communities’ needs, to develop partnerships and to give back,” said Peg Posnick, dance outreach coordinator for the Dance Department. “Right now there’s a lot of emphasis on STEM, but we want to emphasize a need for the arts too. Dancers learn to think outside the box and to work collaboratively. High School Dance Day helps us do that.” 

The day concluded with an informal performance and talk back with five Dance Department graduate students and six undergraduate students. The performance included two duets, a solo, a trio and a participatory piece that called for 11 volunteers from the audience, which, in this case, included very eager and willing high school students.

This story originally appeared in the CU-Boulder News Center.