WKU News

High school dancers from as far away as Georgia and North Carolina are at WKU this week for Summer Dance Intensive.

It’s a week of dance that also serves as a great recruiting tool as WKU’s Amy Bingham explains in this week’s View from the Hill.

For six years, WKU’s Dance Program has hosted a Summer Dance Intensive for high school students.  “Intensive” being the operative word.

“I think if they’re coming to a Dance Intensive they’re serious about dance.  They love dance.  They’re hungry and they’re excited so we get to share that with them and push them.”

Since arriving Sunday, these 22 students have done little else besides dancing.

“They are dancing and engaging in course work or rehearsals from 9 am to 9 pm.”

It’s the third year 16-year-old Cadence Carr from Bowling Green has attended.

“I’ve wanted to dance my entire life, since I was little, and getting to come here to the intensive has given me kind of the college experience and I love the all day dancing and getting to try some new styles.”

Shannon Maloney from Marietta, Georgia, agrees.

“I’ve been very impressed by the rigor and also very impressed by how much the faculty is willing to work with me to up the difficulty.”

Maloney will be a Cherry Presidential Scholar when she attends WKU this fall. She appreciates how the faculty have taken the time to get to know her.

“Especially as somebody with no history with the college, no history with the town, they’ve still treated me like one of their own and that’s huge for me.”

It’s a week the instructors get as excited about as the students.

“It’s great for the program to highlight all that we have to offer. Great recruitment tool.”

“It’s refreshing to work with a new group of students who are eager to learn who we haven’t worked with as much.”

Giving them a real life look at what being a dance major is all about.

“It’s really hard and the teachers are not going to go easy even though they know you’re dancing every day. They’re going to push you just as hard as you would if that were your only class that day.”

In the evenings the students have been learning choreography for a performance they will do Saturday for their parents when they come to pick them up.

Because of COVID, last year’s Summer Dance Intensive was a daylong virtual event offered free of charge.