5 Pros Who Chose Non-Dance Majors in College—and How It Helped Their Careers
College-bound dancers sometimes feel as though a dance degree is the only path to professional success. But while majoring in dance can be a great option, it’s certainly not the only one. College should be a time of self-discovery, which often means exploring a variety of academic interests. We spoke with five artists who chose college majors completely outside the dance world—without sacrificing their postgrad careers.
Ephrat Asherie, Artistic Director of Ephrat Asherie Dance; BA in Italian from Barnard College
Photo by Matthew Murphy, courtesy Asherie
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{“product_info”: {“caption”: “Buy Now”, “product_price”: 0, “product_vendor”: false, “linkout_url”: false, “product_compare_at_price”: 0}, “headline”: “Ephrat Asherie,u00a0Artistic Director ofu00a0Ephrat Asherie Dance; BA in Italian from Barnard College”, “credit”: “”, “description”: “u003cpu003eEphrat Asherie chose not to major in dance because she knew dance would be a part of her life regardless. Her love of languages, along with fond memories of her childhood in Italy, inspired her to major in Italian at Barnard College. “I wanted to reconnect with that part of my life,” she says.u003c/pu003eu003cpu003eSince Barnard is in NYC, Asherie had plenty of dance class options. “I took some classes in the dance department, but I mainly trained in the city,” she says. She also spent a year abroad in Italy studying literature and linguistics, which helped her speed through many of the requirements for her Italian major. u003c/pu003eu003cpu003eSeeing Rennie Harris’ hip-hop opus u003cemu003eRome and Jewelsu003c/emu003e after her sophomore year of college marked a turning point. “I grew up dancing hip hop, but when I saw this piece, I knew I had to get into breaking,” she says. “In that moment, I decided I wanted to graduate early and get to dancing as soon as possible.”u003c/pu003eu003cpu003eAsherie ended up earning her Italian degree in three and a half years, after which she began her career as a dancer and choreographer immersed in the breaking and underground dance community. As founder and artistic director of Ephrat Asherie Dance in NYC, Asherie has found that her knowledge of language helps deepen her understanding of various hip-hop styles. “I’ve always been drawn to finding ways to communicate with people,” she says. “Learning someone else’s language helps you connect with them on a different level. Different languages have different modalities, and I try to look at different forms of dance in a similar way. House dance, breaking, hip hopu2014they’re all qualitatively different modes of human expression.”u003c/pu003e”, “caption”: “u003cpu003ePhoto by Matthew Murphy, courtesy Asherieu003c/pu003e”}
{“product_info”: {“caption”: “Buy Now”, “product_price”: 0, “product_vendor”: false, “linkout_url”: false, “product_compare_at_price”: 0}, “headline”: “Gwen Phillips, Dancer atu00a03rd Law Dance/Theater; BA in journalism from the University of Georgia”, “credit”: “”, “description”: “u003cpu003eGwen Phillips always knew she’d be going to college for something other than dance. u003c/pu003eu003cpu003e “My parents wouldn’t have accepted anything but a traditional liberal arts education,” she says. At the time, she imagined following a career in journalism, which led her to the University of Georgia. “They had both a great journalism program and a dance education degree, which was a big selling point for me,” she says. Phillips ended up with a degree in magazine journalism and a minor in dance education. u003c/pu003eu003cpu003eFollowing graduation, Phillips moved home to Atlanta, GA, and began taking classes with Zoetic Dance Ensemble. “They ended up inviting me to dance with the company, and that’s how I got my first dance job,” she says. Phillips found herself in the right place at the right time again when she moved to Denver, CO, to pursue a certificate in publishing. “I found a sign for a dance company looking to replace a dancer on maternity leave,” she says. That’s how she found Ormao Dance Company, where she danced until meeting Katie Elliott of 3rd Law.u003c/pu003eu003cpu003eDance has always been a part-time job for Phillips, who has moved from a career in copywriting and graphic design to become a physical therapist assistant. “3rd Law only rehearses Mondays and Fridays, so I’m able to balance both jobs,” she says. While Phillips ended up leaving journalism behind, she still uses her degree almost every day as social media manager and content developer for 3rd Law. u003c/pu003e”, “caption”: “u003cpu003ePhillips with Mason Lawrence Taylor in “Till We Wake,” by Katie Elliott and James LaVita (photo by Heather Gray, courtesy Phillips)u003c/pu003e”}
{“product_info”: {“caption”: “Buy Now”, “product_price”: 0, “product_vendor”: false, “linkout_url”: false, “product_compare_at_price”: 0}, “headline”: “Alexis Branagan, Dancer atu00a0New York Theatre Ballet; BA in English from Princeton University”, “credit”: “”, “description”: “u003cpu003eDuring Alexis Branagan’s senior year of high school, she hit a turning point. “My peers were getting ballet jobs, but I wasn’t,” she says. She ended up applying to liberal arts, conservatory, and five-year doctor of physical therapy programs. “I wanted to explore dance after college, but I also knew I had the intellectual capacity to succeed in an academic field,” she says. When Branagan received a talent scholarship from the prestigious Jacobs School of Music at Indiana University, she thought the decision had been made for her. “But then I got into Princeton,” she says, “and I couldn’t turn that down.”u003c/pu003eu003cpu003eAt the time, Princeton’s dance department was primarily modern-based. In an attempt to provide more ballet opportunities for students, Branagan co-founded Princeton University Ballet, a student-run company. She also began taking regular classes at the nearby Princeton Ballet School, and decided to major in English with a minor in dance. “The English department has a theater studies track that had a lot of crossover with the dance department, so the combination worked well,” she says. u003c/pu003eu003cpu003eBranagan found it difficult to stay in top dance shape at school. “I really thought I’d be taking technique class every day, but the rigorous academic classes caught up with me,” she says. But writing her senior thesis, which explored the relationship between dance and poetry, reignited Branagan’s love of ballet, and provided her the push she needed to give professional dance a shot. “I gave myself a year after graduation to get a job, and within that year I got one with New York Theatre Ballet,” she says. u003c/pu003eu003cpu003eWhile Branagan admits that pursuing an Ivy League education wasn’t the most straightforward path to a dance career, she’s happy with her decision. “The broad array of peers, professors, and choreographers I got to work with at Princeton definitely shaped the artist I’ve become,” she says. u003c/pu003e”, “caption”: “u003cpu003eBranagan with Erez Milatin in Richard Alston’s “The Seasons” (photo by Richard Termine, courtesy New York Theatre Ballet)u003c/pu003e”}
{“product_info”: {“caption”: “Buy Now”, “product_price”: 0, “product_vendor”: false, “linkout_url”: false, “product_compare_at_price”: 0}, “headline”: “Alexandra Salerno, Contemporary Dancer; BS in psychology fromu00a0Robert Morris University”, “credit”: “”, “description”: “u003cpu003eAlexandra Salerno began her psychology degree at Point Park University. “While I thought about auditioning for the dance program, I was already an apprentice with Bodiography Contemporary Ballet,” she says. Company director Maria Caruso kept her on during her time at Point Park, which gave Salerno the opportunity to explore her two interests simultaneously.u003c/pu003eu003cpu003eAfter her first year, Salerno transferred to Robert Morris University for its sports psychology program. “They didn’t have a dance department, but I minored in musical theater, which kept me performing,” she says. The university also has a partner-ship with Pittsburgh Musical Theatre, and Salerno landed a job teaching dance at its conservatory. u003c/pu003eu003cpu003eAfter graduation, Salerno danced for Holland America Cruise Line before attending graduate school for counseling. Now, she dances part-time with Bodiography’s alumni company, BCB3, and with choreographer Gia Cacalano’s Gia T. Presents. When she’s not dancing, she works as a therapist through University of Pittsburgh Medical Center. “There’s a lot of crossover between my two worlds,” she says. “I now think about my mind as a part of my instrument, which means taking care of mental health is an important part of being a smart dancer.”u003c/pu003e”, “caption”: “u003cpu003eSalerno (top) in “Marquee, on a Holland America cruise ship (photo by EWS Entertainment Group, courtesy Salerno)u003c/pu003e”}
{“product_info”: {“caption”: “Buy Now”, “product_price”: 0, “product_vendor”: false, “linkout_url”: false, “product_compare_at_price”: 0}, “headline”: “Michael Apuzzo,u00a0Dancer atu00a0Paul Taylor Dance Company; BA in economicsu00a0from Yale University”, “credit”: “”, “description”: “u003cpu003eMichael Apuzzo always knew he wanted to attend a liberal arts institution. “I wanted to go to the best school possible, and I felt like a conservatory program would have been limiting academically,” he says. He performed as much as possible during his time at Yale, dancing with nearly every student company, immersing himself in the theater department, and even performing with the prestigious Yale Repertory Theatre. “I think I spent more time dancing than I did doing my homework!” he says.u003c/pu003eu003cpu003eApuzzo feels as though his undergraduate experience helped open him up to the possibility of dancing professionally. Following graduation, he moved to NYC to teach math at a magnet school. “After school every day, I would go to Broadway Dance Center and take as many classes as I could,” he says. He also began attending auditions, and after taking several professional dance jobs and touring with musical theater productions, he earned a spot in the Paul Taylor Dance Company, where he’s been dancing ever since.u003c/pu003eu003cpu003eApuzzo credits his economics degree with his unique approach to movement. “I think about choreography very analytically, memorizing it in sequences and mapping out where I am in space,” he says. His experience came full circle when he was invited back to Yale to stage an excerpt from a Paul Taylor work on the students. “It’s great to see how much the dance scene at Yale has grown, and to be able to be a part of that,” he says. u003c/pu003e”, “caption”: “u003cpu003ePhoto by Laspata Decaro, courtesy Paul Taylor Dance Companyu003c/pu003e”}
