Two dance seniors share their unique college experiences.
Louisa Holland, dance senior, will graduate this semester after leaving the university in March 2016, and returning in August 2016.
“Originally, I was not going to come back, just due to different situations,” Holland said. “Some of them that were 100% on me, and some that weren’t.”
Holland said after attending the Rockettes Summer Intensive in the summer of 2016, she realized she wanted to return to the university.
“While I was at the intensive, I saw they used the same blocking system as they do here for American Spirit rehearsals. It just hit me that if I was going to throw away an opportunity like this over some bad memories, then I wasn’t doing what I really should be doing,” Holland said. “I decided pretty quickly I was going to come back, so I just waited on permission from the deans, and once I got it, there was no looking back.”
Holland said she doesn’t regret her decision to leave.
“It was nice to have some time off and take a break. I ended up doing a community theater show, so I was able to keep dancing and doing stuff I was interested in,” Holland said. “Sometimes, just taking a break and taking a breather is really what you need. That is what I needed at that point in my life.”
Holland said the dance pedagogy program helped prepare her in more ways than she expected.
“When I came into the dance school, I was like, ‘I’m going to be a dance performance major’ and one of my professors was like, ‘You’d actually make a really good teacher.’ I never thought of myself as a dance teacher before, and now I have all of these skills that I never thought I would have,” Holland said. “What’s great about the program is that they expose you to teaching and management positions, and things like that.”
After graduation, Holland plans on participating in the Disney College Program at Walt Disney World Resort in Orlando, Florida.
Holland said she is thankful to have spent her college years at OCU.
“It’s been such an incredible experience, I absolutely love the atmosphere here. Everyone is so passionate and dedicated about what they do. I don’t think there are a lot of other colleges where it’s like that,” Holland said. “I feel like not only have I grown in my major, but I’ve grown as a human being here. And I think that that’s really special.”
Nia Butler, dance senior, will graduate this fall after missing a semester of dance in the fall of 2017 due to her pregnancy.
“I was pregnant from the end of the spring semester my sophomore year through the fall semester of my junior year. I had my daughter during Winter Break, so the timing actually couldn’t have been any better in that respect,” Butler said. “I did not dance in the fall when I was big and pregnant, but I got all A’s in the academic classes I took.”
Butler said it was difficult to leave her daughter while she was attending classes.
“I came back in the spring, and it was incredibly hard to leave my less than one-month old baby to pursue my education and future career, but I had to remind myself that I am doing this for her and her future,” Butler said. “She is my motivation and my sunshine on the cloudy days. There isn’t anything I wouldn’t do for her.”
Butler said she appreciates the support she received from the faculty at Ann Lacy School of Dance.
“Jo Rowan, Dean Bedford, Dean Shelley, and all of the faculty were very supportive of me continuing my education. They have all told me how much they admire what I am doing and how I am completing this already challenging program as a single mother,” Butler said. “It may take some extra time now, but I am still making it happen, and I’m proud of myself for that.”
Butler said she has many options for her future.
“The possibilities are limitless, so I have a lot of different ideas for what to do after graduation. I teach at a dance studio right now and I want to continue to do that for a while as well as possibly dance on a cruise ship. I haven’t been out of the country before, and I want to see it all,” Butler said. “I also plan on going back to school to either get my master’s in dance or get my doctorate in physical therapy. We’ll see where life takes me.”
Butler said her biggest advice for underclassmen is to not sweat the small stuff.
“Don’t freak yourself out. It’s okay to not know what you want to do with your life right now, hardly anyone does at this stage of their life,” Butler said. “Your life a year from now could be completely different than your life now, and that’s part of the beauty of it all. Embrace it and go with the flow.”
Butler said her experiences have made her a better person.
“Overall, my time at OCU has been full of a lot of life lessons, lifelong friends, and finding myself as a dancer, teacher and mom. It hasn’t been easy, but it has made me a much stronger woman,” she said.
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