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Dear Central and Connecticut dance communities:
Serving as the Central Connecticut State University dance education program director gives me great pleasure and pride. I am stepping into very big shoes as our colleague, mentor, and guiding light, Professor Catherine Fellows, did an outstanding job building the program from the start of her tenure in 1976 until her retirement in 2019. Her rich legacy leaves us with too much greatness to fit on this page. Highlights include a beautiful dance complex dedicated solely to dance, a wide range of dance programs and courses, and state-wide K-12 dance certification.
The oldest university in the state is growing fast, and so is the Dance Education Program. Central offers various options for students interested in the field: a B.S. Ed. in Dance Education enabling teachers to receive PreK-12 certification, cross-endorsement for dance teacher certification, a Dance Minor, and a double major in Dance and Physical Education. We also offer an Entrepreneurship in Dance major program, the only one in the United States.
The Central Dance Program aims to produce highly qualified dance educators for public schools, independent dance entrepreneurs, and talented performers. Our programs are committed to embracing personal development, diversity, wellness, knowledge and skills, dance-technical training, and choreography. We emphasize the creative process and sharpen our scholars' minds to aim for skill acquisition applicable beyond the dance classroom. Central dance students actively participate in community engagement activities on and off campus through varied outreach programs and artist-in-residence programs with visiting dance professionals. Our students are also given the opportunity to perform student works, faculty choreography, and pieces by visiting guest artists in our 1,900-seat theater and throughout the TriState Area.
Dance is a powerful connector, an imperative. Especially during our recovery from the pandemic, dance helps restore joy and offers stability in students' lives and offers confidence, determination, time management abilities, and teamwork skills. William Bennet, former U.S. Secretary of Education, said: "The arts are an essential element of education, just like reading, writing, and arithmetic…music, dance, painting, and theater are all keys that unlock profound human understanding and accomplishment." What stops us from implementing the STEM into STEAM model and forging ahead on our state's innovation, offering dance an equal place to core content areas, like math, ELA, and the sciences? After all, the arts foster creativity, which is celebrated in both educational and professional fields these days.
In line with Central's motto, I invite you to connect with us. Join us in our dance ventures as a student, audience member, or supporter.
Best,
Pascal Rekoert
Dance Program Director
Assistant Professor of Dance
Department of Physical Education & Human Performance
Central Connecticut State University
rekoert@ccsu.edu