Campus Confidential: Meet Stephanie!

Hi everyone! My name is Stephanie and I’m a senior at Adelphi University in Garden City, NY, majoring in dance and minoring in journalism. Over the course of my college career, I’ve had the chance to perform, train, and study under world-renowned choreographers and teachers including former Paul Taylor Dance principals, Orion Duckstein and Heather Berest. I’ve also been able to integrate myself into the field of journalism by writing for my school’s paper. My passion for both dance and writing has led me to an internship with Dance Spirit, and I’m thrilled by the opportunity!

Born and raised in the small town of Port Jervis, NY, I didn’t have many dance options. But I was lucky to have a supportive family who encouraged me to pursue my dream. At the young age of 3, I began my dance training at a local studio with former Garden State Ballet soloist, Nina Bleicher Fey. I studied ballet almost exclusively through my senior year in high school. I was determined to become a professional ballet dancer, but a desire to experience other styles before starting my career prompted me to go to college first.

In 2007, I headed to Adelphi to study on a talent scholarship. There, I discovered a new love: modern dance. This new style helped me to express myself more clearly and connect with my audience on a deeper level than I’d ever been able to as a ballet dancer. I really fell for modern dance during my junior year, when I got to perform Doug Varone’s Le Sacre du Printemps for my school’s annual fall dance show. The raw energy of the piece changed the way I felt about dance. The experience inspired my decision to pursue a career in modern dance. That same year, I was able to work with and perform Danny Grossman’s Human Form Divine in another dance show at my college. The following summer, I studied on full scholarship with the Limón Dance Company at their intensive on Adelphi’s campus. This past fall, Taylor 2 was in residency at my school and I had the honor of working with them and learning Paul Taylor’s Esplanade.

Now, it’s my last semester at Adelphi, and I’m extremely excited and nervous about the future. After graduation, I’ll be faced with the reality of having to pay off student loans, and with finding a way to cover the cost of rent and all the other necessities required to survive in the NY metropolitan area. Lately, I’ve been preparing for the “real world” in a number of ways: writing resumés, taking headshots and dance photos, working with my teachers independently on teaching and training skills, and auditioning for companies. I hope you’ll follow me in my weekly blog as I document my life as a dancer about to graduate college. See you next week!