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Why would this be a bad idea?


Jenny in Florida
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My son is clearly starting to get bored/antsy with the academic life. He's mentioned a few things he'd like to pursue that might result in him needing to take off a semester. While I can certainly see the appeal of some of those ideas, I am extremely concerned that, if he takes time away from school and gets out of "school mode," he may just never get around to going back. I have proposed an alternative: buckling down and graduating in three years so that he could get on with pursuing some of his wonderful plans with a degree already in his pocket.

 

A little background:

 

He's midway through what we've been thinking of as his sophomore year, but his college considers him a junior as of the end of the fall semester because of the (dual enrollment and CLEP) credits he transferred in. He likes his school and is pretty happy there socially. He's declared as a dual major, musical theatre and applied dance.

 

Although he is a genuine "triple threat," he considers dance his primary discipline. He is content with the classes for his musical theatre sequence and feels he is making progress in both acting and singing. 

 

The issue is that he feels like he's stagnating dance-wise. (He's not wrong about this.) Frankly, the college simply does not offer enough higher level dance classes to get and keep him challenged. One obvious solution would be for him to start taking classes off campus. However, he does not have access to a vehicle, and there are no studios accessible on foot, bicycle or public transportation that would work. (He is especially devoted to tap, which is something of a specialty once you get past a certain skill level.) Plus, of course, that would require him or us to pay for a full slate of dance classes on top of his regular college expenses, which wasn't in the plan.

 

Because he's already effectively a full semester ahead of pace, it looks like he could change nothing, just forge ahead keeping the dual major, and graduate one semester early. He'll need to meet with his advisor, of course, to look more carefully at what he's done and what requirements remain, but a quick scan suggests that he could shave off another semester and graduate in three years flat if he reduced the dance major to a minor. 

 

He's young (enrolled when he was 16 and won't turn 18 until almost the end of the spring semester). The proposed accelerated plan would mean he'd graduate at 19. He's already planning to move back home after graduation for a year or so in order to work and save up a nest egg for his planned move to NYC. (His big sister took the same basic path.) So, we're not concerned about any limitations based on his age.

 

Although he's extremely bright and academically capable, he is not and never has been invested in "school." He opted to accelerate high school and move on to college as soon as he could specifically in order to finish his degree quickly and get on with his performance career (a fact he reminded me of when we talked last night). 

 

So, lay it on me: What downsides are we missing? Why is it a bad idea for him to cut the dance back to a minor and focus on finishing his degree in three years so he can get on with his life and career?

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So if dance is his major passion, why would he not want to major in dance? If that is his biggest strength, wouldn't he want to have that as his major? So that when he auditions for dance roles his cv will say 'dance major"?

 

Is there a way for him to create opportunities on campus-- start his own dance company, or a dance festival, or invite tap dance pros to campus to teach master classes? Is there a way for him to work with the department to create these opportunities, or create more dance opportunities with theater and music? And then others will benefit from his leadership? And then he will be creating contacts outside campus that he can use once he hits the Big Time?

 

Maria

 

 

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So if dance is his major passion, why would he not want to major in dance? If that is his biggest strength, wouldn't he want to have that as his major? So that when he auditions for dance roles his cv will say 'dance major"?

 

Is there a way for him to create opportunities on campus-- start his own dance company, or a dance festival, or invite tap dance pros to campus to teach master classes? Is there a way for him to work with the department to create these opportunities, or create more dance opportunities with theater and music? And then others will benefit from his leadership? And then he will be creating contacts outside campus that he can use once he hits the Big Time?

 

Maria

 

Mostly, the issue is that the dance department is the weaker of the two options on this campus. The dance major is relatively new, and they don't offer a straight-up dance performance degree. Instead, it's a degree in "applied dance," intended for students who plan to teach or to run a school or company. That is a long-term dream/plan of my son's, but it means that the actual technique training in their classes is not of an especially high quality. So, his feeling is that the training he's getting in the musical theatre program -- which does include some dance -- is of more value to him than what he's getting as part of the dance major. Even as a non-major, he could take dance classes when they fit into his schedule and would be able to dance in the on-campus productions.

 

He has already established (and is leading) a percussive dance ensemble on campus. He is already taking the sequence of courses required to be eligible to choreograph for student performances. He already takes intensives and master classes off campus whenever possible. (Just yesterday, he did his third or fourth dance intensive with two women who run a well-regarded professional tap ensemble and who have produced a film about tap dancing. He had a private lesson with them today and walked away with a ton of good advice and a sheet full of e-mail addresses and contact information.) 

 

In the performance world, truthfully, it won't matter what degree he has. He'll get roles (or not) in the basis of his auditions. Many professional dancers don't go to college at all. We have "strongly encouraged" (okay, pretty much insisted) that he get a degree so that he has options in the future. If/when he decides to transition into full-time teaching or to open his own school or establish a company, having a formal credential will be helpful. However, it's really not required to pursue a career in performance

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Will he be dancing less for the next year or so as a result of the proposed plan? Or will he be finding a way to take outside classes? It seems to me that at this stage of his professional development, a break from the dancing could be problematic.

 

Not necessarily. Even with his declared double major, he has only one dance class required next semester. However, he has already been cast in the faculty-choreographed spring dance concert and will have a few rehearsals a week for that, after which he will audition for the student-choreographed show. (He's already been promised a place in at least two dances for that, too.) He runs a student dance ensemble, which rehearses a couple of times a week. He has one major off-campus convention scheduled for next month and is lobbying for us to send him to D.C. for a multi-day event in March. He takes additional classes whenever he is home for breaks and weekends. Today, the manager of the studio at which he took the private lesson gave him contact info for two professional groups near his campus that she thinks might be interested in hiring him to perform for events.

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I see nothing at all wrong with the plan to speed up his degree path. I think that is a muchMUCH better plan than "taking time off." I know of only 1 or 2 people who successfully "took time off" and went back to complete their degree in a timely manner. Everyone else either kept it on the back-burner, or got the degree decade(s) later, so I would highly discourage that path.

 

I'd agree to almost whatever it took to keep him in school, finishing the degree. If what degree has won't matter much in his chosen profession (and it doesn't sound like it will) - then drop the double-major, finish early with a major/minor and go fly! He can always return to school for a more advanced or specialized degree if he deems it worthwhile at a later time - but at least he will have that Bachelor's degree in-hand... just in case it is needed to open some doors in the future.

 

By entering the workforce at 20/21ish WITH a bachelor's degree already achieved, I can't help but imagine it will help open doors for him in a BIG way for productions. It shows hard work, follow-through, commitment, dedication, organization, timeliness, etc. --- ALL qualities I imagine it is sometimes difficult for the producers of plays or musicals to find in performers. So I would think having the degree would give him a leg-up pretty much immediately.

 

Good luck to him!! :)

 

 

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Could he talk to area teachers he feels are adequate and ask them for suggestions? Perhaps he could carpool with another of their students who lives n ear his school, or exchange some advanced classes for teaching some of thestudio's beginners. Is there any way his participation in a dance studio could be packaged as some sort of independent study? Then scholarship money might cover class fees, perhaps even help cover transportation costs.

IMO, he should stick it out and get the degree, then venture out. In dance, as with so many other physically demanding careers, the risk of injury is a factor and it could turn out to be a blessing later down the road to have the degree as a fall back position.

Edited by hillfarm
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What is the least amount of semesters he could possibly graduate in with that applied dance major? If he no longer wants to be in school, then it might be risky to drag it out by making it more performance profitable and more interesting by double majoring. If he wants to perform right now but needs the safety of the teaching/business degree, then completing that degree in as fast as possible and not losing dance muscles might be the safest goal? Or transferring someplace where he can perform and nibble away in a slow but steady way at the teaching degree? But probably slow and steady doesn,t describe the flexibility needed to take advantage of performance opportunities. Is there any way he can get that teaching degree in one year and graduate next Christmas? Or even better, do summer classes and graduate in Sept.? I think the real question is whether he,s going to do school if you convince him to return, or whether he,s going to flunk out. A year is a long time at that age.

 

Nan

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It would be great if he could finish the degree if you can figure out a way to do that while getting him on-going high quality dance instruction. I don't claim to be an expert in dance, but know quite a few serious dancers, and it does seem that if performing professionally is what he intends to do, he can't afford to back off from that training right now. I do agree that injury is a huge risk, and it would be ideal if he can work on the degree too. Is there a school he could transfer to that would offer the best of both worlds (quality dance and the academic program?)

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