by Tess Losada

I got my first ever C in high school chemistry. My world of unfailingly perfect grades that I had always achieved with little to no effort came crashing down around me.

Though surviving that C helped me realize that a grade couldn’t actually stop my heart, I felt that same panic in my first college dance technique class. As my professor explained the grading scale, complete with skills tests throughout the semester, I wondered if I would be able to fulfill her expectations and get the A.

One of my favorite aspects of the dance field is how incredibly intelligent dancers are. Most dancers are also rather “type A”; willing to do anything to solve the problem and anxious to find the “right” answer. For individuals who are so driven to do things correctly, being graded on the very subjective facets of dance can be incredibly stressful. It can also be difficult to accept the emotional differences between dancing for fun and the new academic requirements placed on your dancing.

This semester, as I prepare to graduate with my degree in Dance Performance, I feel that I can look back on my undergraduate academic career and understand the grading process with a new mindset. I would like to offer future dance majors some ideas of the things I believe that myself and my classmates wish we had known four years ago. [Read more…]