Snapshot: A Day in the Life of a Performing Arts Major
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As host to the Department of Theater, Film and Dance, the Schwartz Center is home to performance spaces, studios, classrooms, film-editing suites, costume shops and more.
Dance majors learn about the subject from both an academic and technique standpoint. They take classes in dance history and theory, as well composition and performance. Every year the students put on three shows, as well as Stoglia, the dance major’s biggest performance, in which both faculty and students participate. Outside of the studio, all seven students in the major are good friends. “I think we intimidate people when we go out together,” said Virginia Cromwell ’10. “No one wants to dance with us because we’re dance majors.”
The Schwartz Center also houses the theater major, with classes in acting, directing, stage-managing and virtually every piece of the performance process. Outside the classroom, theater majors put on six shows annually that range from “Alice in Wonderland” to “The Passion of Dracula.”
“Being a theater major is exciting and fun, but the most work I’ve ever done in my life,” said Natalie Kemper ’10.
Film majors round out the Schwartz Center trifecta, with a program that focuses on production and academic study. Students write, plan and direct films.
All three majors, distinct in their own right, require students to take classes in each others’ majors for graduation. So the next time you attend at performance at the Schwartz Center, know that the many people in the Department worked hard to put it on.