Nine students attended the Summer Dance Immersion in Berlin July 5-23 2024.
Nine UK dance students, and lecturer in dance Laura Neese, traveled to Berlin, Germany, in July 2024, for two and a half weeks of dance, culture, history, and performance. This was the Department of Theatre and Dance’s first dance-specific faculty-directed education abroad program supporting dance students with credits towards their dance majors/minors while immersing themselves in Berlin’s unique and vibrant culture.
The program was established in honor of former dance faculty member Stephanie Harris, whose vision planted the seed for a Dance-specific Education Abroad program to Berlin. An inaugural cohort of nine students ranging from freshman to senior, along with faculty director Laura Neese, traveled to Berlin to participate in the b12 festival, an international contemporary dance festival in which students trained alongside professionals, and took classes from established international artists in contemporary dance, somatics, and dance film. Students were challenged to expand athletic and artistic limits, and to broaden their perspectives on dance, choreography, media, and performance.
In addition to rigorous training at b12, students took in a wide variety of live dance performances, ranging in styles from ballet, to interdisciplinary dance theater, contemporary modern dance, and musical theater.
When not training and viewing performances students visited multiple cultural and historic sites. Students encountered the brutal history of Sachsenhausen Concentration Camp, explored ancient Near Eastern and European History at the Neues Museum, traced the development of 19th through 21st century German Art at the Berlinische Gallery, and engaged with the unique history of the East German Republic at the DDR Museum. They visited the murals on remnants of the Berlin Wall at the famed East Side Gallery, and explored history and culture at the Jewish Museum Berlin.
"As a faculty member I am inspired by the students’ growth over the course of the program," Neese said. "From arrival to departure, students immersed themselves not only in their dance studies, but also in the cultural dynamics of Berlin as a vibrant, complex, and cosmopolitan city. Yes, I witnessed remarkable transformations in the way students discussed and engaged with dance and performance, but more importantly I saw a shift in how they carried themselves - with confidence. What a privilege to facilitate such a meaningful and joyful learning experiences!"
