As a result of job safety will be arduous to return by within the dance world, there’s an comprehensible attraction to full-time professorships in school and college dance applications. The trail to get there can appear elusive, nevertheless—and the necessities of the job lengthen past instructing and choreography. Two dance professors—Jason Ohlberg, Skidmore School affiliate professor and associate chair, and Shannon Johnson Grayson, assistant professor of follow at College of Southern California’s Glorya Kaufman Faculty of Dance—share their journeys to working in academia.
Required Expertise
Dance professor positions often require both a terminal diploma (an MFA or a PhD) or equal skilled expertise. However the path that folks take to those jobs is never linear. Neither Ohlberg nor Grayson started their careers with the purpose of instructing. Earlier than graduating, Ohlberg left the BFA dance program at Buy School, State College of New York, for a scholarship alternative that led to an apprenticeship with Hubbard Road Dance Chicago. He accomplished his undergraduate diploma 20 years later as a part of a unbroken schooling program at Cornish School of the Arts. Within the interim, he danced with and choreographed for corporations within the Midwest and Pacific Northwest, and taught at small suburban dance colleges after which in an adjunct capability at Barat School, Cornish School, and the College of Washington.
“It was a really gig-economy form of existence for some time,” he says. Ohlberg’s curiosity in pursuing a tutorial instructing profession is what prompted him to complete his BFA. Then he enrolled in College of Washington’s dance MFA program, which he says is targeted largely on making ready its college students for a profession in greater schooling.
Grayson is without doubt one of the comparatively few full-time professors who doesn’t maintain a sophisticated diploma. After graduating from Howard College, she danced professionally in Chicago, the place, like Ohlberg, she taught at suburban studios and YMCAs earlier than serving to to create the youth program at Hubbard Road and instructing grades Okay–12 in Chicago Public Faculties. She labored as an adjunct at Dominican College and Columbia School Chicago earlier than transferring to Los Angeles and instructing at USC Kaufman. “I began asking round on the college for full-time alternatives, however it took about 4 years of adjuncting and build up lessons,” she says.
The Software Course of
The method of making use of and interviewing for dance professorships is time-consuming, rigorous, and aggressive. “Typically there are actually strong years, the place individuals are searching for numerous positions, and a few years it’s very lean,” says Ohlberg. In the course of the two years by which he was making use of for jobs, he despatched out 15 purposes—consisting of a canopy letter, CV, and instructing assertion, in addition to movies of his instructing, samples of his choreography, earlier course evaluations, and associated supplies—and heard again from 5 colleges.
After making it by means of a telephone interview, candidates are introduced in for multiday on-campus interviews. “It typically entailed instructing two lessons, and probably in very totally different disciplines. So, a way class after which a historical past or anatomy lecture,” says Ohlberg of his experiences. The on-campus visits may additionally embody interviews, a job speak in regards to the candidate’s scholarship or artistic work, and infrequently a dinner with the search committee. “These are supposed to place everyone comfy, however will be much more intimidating and intense,” says Ohlberg. “It’s loads of being on.”
Grayson utilized for her position at USC Kaufman—her second time making use of for a full-time professorship there—throughout the pandemic, so the method performed out on-line. Her three rounds of interviews included instructing two lessons by way of Zoom and collaborating in one-on-one and group conversations. “I taught a faucet and a jazz class, each infused with African, West African, Afro-Cuban, and Latin dance,” says Grayson. “I used to be competing towards individuals who had grasp’s and PhDs, so I actually needed to indicate my expertise and information of historic context.”
Though universities sometimes pay for candidates’ flights, boarding, and meals, Ohlberg stresses that the method will be financially and mentally taxing for academics who’re working elsewhere whereas making use of. “It might probably take fairly a toll on you,” he says. “The excellent news is that in case you have loads of interviews, it means you’re a really enticing candidate.”
An Immersive Profession
Most new hires are available in on a tenure observe as assistant professors, with eligibility necessities laid out to be promoted to affiliate after which full professor. “Once I was instructing in adjunct positions, I didn’t actually have a full view of what the profession regarded like,” says Ohlberg. “If you get right into a full-time tutorial place, it entails a lot extra than simply instructing or making dances. And the longer you’re in academia, the extra instructing turns into solely a part of what you do.”
Ohlberg grew to become an affiliate professor at Skidmore in 2021 after 5 years as an assistant. To be able to be promoted, he needed to current a tenure portfolio of his instructing, service to the division and the school, and scholarship, which in his case included each written work and choreography. Whereas USC Kaufman doesn’t presently provide tenure, there are nonetheless formal standards for promotion. Each Ohlberg and Grayson sit on administrative committees, advise college students, and attend conferences to advance their very own analysis. “It’s a full, immersive job,” says Grayson. “I’m grateful for that, and for the well being advantages, however I’m simply engaged on balancing all of it.”
Grayson and Ohlberg each say that flexibility is vital to the job—they’re each commonly requested to tackle programs and tasks exterior of their areas of experience. “It’s a must to be very nimble,” says Ohlberg. “However these of us in dance have an inherent nature of arduous work and grit in our backgrounds that’s properly suited to the fixed shift and evolution of the place.”
