Dance Day was presented on Friday, March 13 by The University of Akron to attract people to join this new program.

“Dance Day was started as a recruitment event and to expose members of the dance community to the UA Dance Program,” said Cydney Spohn, associate professor of dance.

Dance Day is designed to give the local, regional and national dance community a look at UA’s dance faculty, staff and students and to recruit interested dancers into UA’s dance program. This program is not for non-dancers.

Seventy-one dancers participated in Dance Day from all over Ohio and from other states like Pennsylvania, Kentucky and Wisconsin. Parents and teachers also attended and observed.

One of the teachers from Lincoln Park Performing Arts Charter School in Midland, PA told Spohn that there had been nothing but positive feedback from the students on the bus ride home. A lot of students even said they didn’t even know UA had a dance department. They were impressed by how established it was, and are now considering it for a college.

Dance Day started at 1 p.m. and continued until 6:30 p.m. In between that time there were many different dance performances including ballet, modern and graphysiology, and tools for dance-making using mental imagery.

Graphysiology was taught by guest artist in residence, Alexandre Munz. Munz is an internationally known performer that has become a choreographer and an educator.

Near the end of the program attendees got to hear from UA dance alumni and current UA dance students, who also put on a performance.

This is the first year for Dance Day on the UA campus and it will be returning next spring semester.

More information about The University of Akron Dance Program can be found at their website, http://www.uakron.edu/dtaa/dance/.