What’s does dance mean to me? I think I am going to spend my whole life figuring that out. Because it’s one of the reasons I’m doing the course I guess. It’s partly about self-discovery, I think it’s a really great form of understanding yourself and the body and also about connecting with other people in a really unique way.
I think it’s a really lovely, supportive environment amongst all the students here. We have quite a small cohort so there is a real sense of community amongst us. We all come from quite different backgrounds in dance and in life, so I really love that diversity and we come together and we really support each other and learn from each other.
I think my teachers are amazing, they are one of the best parts of this course. I have felt so supported by them throughout my 3 years.
I actually did some study before this course in Environment and spent a bit of time away from dance, and then realised how much I really need to be dancing for myself. When I saw the course online and talked to other people about it I got a really nice sense of a really great culture, a really supportive culture, so that really appealed to me.
In terms of the dance units themselves, they are pretty much all hands on, all dancing and we learn through dancing. We of course do theory as well and spend time talking about dance history.
The dance studios are really great. They are beautiful, big, they have got beautiful light and they just provide a really nice open welcoming space for our dancing.
I’m interested in choreography. But I am also really interested in community engagement work. I’m hoping to do projects and run workshops that engage people from all different backgrounds to be able to move and dance without the stigma of having to be good or anything like that.
Anyone thinking of doing this course should definitely come and check it out. As I’ve said before, it just has such a beautiful supportive culture and you feel supported as an artist and it gives you the tools to be a creative person for the rest of your life.
Words by Abi Benham-Bannon, Bachelor of Creative Arts (Dance) student
Abi studied the Bachelor of Creative Arts (Dance) at Deakin University.