SMC Dance Department Keeps Dancing

Emily McCarron is a dance enthusiast. It was when she started taking dance classes a few years ago that she decided she wanted to pursue a professional degree in dancing. Fortunately for McCarron, Santa Monica College’s Dance Department offers a comprehensive curriculum, with a wide range of dance courses. Whether you’re a seasoned professional or just beginning to get your feet wet, there’s probably a dance class for you. Many of the dance classes offered at SMC have beginning, intermediate, and advanced courses, ranging from commercial dance (jazz, tap, ballroom) to world dance (African, Brazilian, Mexican, Indonesian), ballet, modern dance, and choreography.

Just last week, the SMC Dance Department held auditions for the Global Motion World Dance Company and the Synapse Dance Theater. Global Motion held auditions for student choreographers on September 5, and auditions for dancers were on Friday, September 7. Global Motion focuses on various international dance styles, such as African, Asian, ballroom and lyrical jazz. The Synapse Dance Theater, an SMC contemporary dance ensemble, also held auditions for dancers on Thursday, focusing on a range of styles from jazz, hip hop and beyond.

Both performance groups are classes, so students who are interested in being a part of them must audition. If they make the cut they enroll in the class and spend time perfecting their dance of choice.Tthe dance department. As a result of slashed funds, the department is offering a more limited number of dance classes. Additionally, the department has to also limit the amount of times any dancer can repeat a course.

“As dancers you have to develop skill before moving onto the next level, so students have to repeat a class two or three times before having enough skill to move onto that next level and the reduction in repeats is devastating to the dancers,” says Department Chair Judith Douglas.

The Dance Department is not letting the cuts slow them down though. They plan on holding two dance performances this fall semester. The Synapse Dance Company will be performing on November 3 and 4, and the Global Motion World Dance Company will be performing November 8 and 10. All dance performances will be held at The Broad stage, and will open to the public.