Mastering the American Dance Festival: mid-career artists establish credentials and build community in a new MFA program.

In late 2005, dancer/choreographer Doug Elkins was on his way through the airport in Oakland, California when he ran into Donna Faye Burchfield, artistic director of the Hollins University/American Dance Festival MFA program. "I've been looking for you!" they both said, and sat down right there in the airport Starbucks to talk about Elkins' interest in the graduate program. Long a professional dance artist on the New York scene, Elkins had been considering an MFA as a tool to increase his opportunities for university employment. In recent years the traveling to teach and perform that provided his income had left him feeling isolated from his artistic peers.

Burchfield, who is also chair of the Hollins University dance department and dean of the American Dance Festival, understands well the vicissitudes of a career in dance. She knows from experience that an academic post can provide both stability and creative stimulation. In general, most college/university dance departments require a master's degree for a tenure-track faculty position. Without an advanced degree, the best a working professional can hope for is an adjunct post, a year-long temporary appointment, or a string of guest artist visits. And the time commitment to attain a degree can put a considerable dent in one's working life. Enter ADF/Hollins.

In 2001, Charles and Stephanie Reinhart of ADF invited Burchfield to help develop a uniquely structured, flexible academic program in partnership with an academic institution that could both "sustain people in their careers in dance" and give artists "a chance to reconnect." They had one precedent to use as a model: the School of the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston (SMFA), which maintains a partnership with Tufts University. Students at both the graduate and undergraduate levels can take courses at SMFA that count towards their Art/Art History degree at Tufts.

The Hollins/ADF MFA was launched in 2005 and word is getting out. The 2006-2007 class roster includes such dance notables as New York-based choreographers Doug Elkins, Lisa Race, and Sarah Skaggs (all of whom run their own dance companies), as well as master teacher Gerri Houlihan, longtime Paul Taylor dancers Ruth Andrien and Rachel Berman, and Linda-Denise Fisher-Harrell formerly of Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater. There are two tracks of study available: Low Residency and Year Residency. Mid-career working artists can earn up to 12 credits for professional experience in the Low Residency track.

The program combines individually-focused, mentored studio practice, independent study with group seminars (involving showings, lectures, discussions, critiques, often with visiting artists), courses taught by visual artists Kim Rhodes and Ben Pranger, and others including Ecological Body taught by Irene Dowd, and History, Theory and Criticism taught by Thomas DeFrantz. The work is stimulating and often personally relevant. For DeFrantz's class, for example, Race researched her first dance teacher, Fred Kelly (brother to Gene) in the ADF archives. There, she says, "I found a lot of my dancing," tracing her own beginnings by learning the history of her teacher.

Study for those in Low Residency tracks begins with six weeks at ADF (on the campus of Duke University in Durham, North Carolina) followed by 16 days of study on campus at Hollins in Roanoke, VA, in August. Together with Burchfield they establish a program of independent study before returning to their home city for fall term. A second meeting to plan field work occurs during a retreat in New York City during January. Then they finish up with a second six weeks (and thesis concert) at ADF the next summer, and another 16 days at Hollins in August. Some

Low Residency track students are asked to take three summers to complete the program.

Both Elkins and Race are parents of young children. They acknowledge that having kids factored into their desire to find an academic job. But at the same time, the demands of parenting can further complicate the logistics of going back to school. In addition to exhilaration, both Race and Elkins describe how overwhelming the intense study, with its tendency to promote deep examination of one's history, theories, and practices, can feel at the outset. "It pulls the rug out from under you," says Elkins.

Race, who last summer at ADF was teaching, studying, and keeping track of her son all at once, says she was "hanging on for dear life." Both experienced teachers, Elkins and Race agree that this return to the role of students has enriched them immeasurably. "The more information I have," says Race, "the greater my ability to reach out to different students."

Shani Nwando Ikerioha Collins decided to enroll for the more complete immersion of the Year Residency track: six weeks at the ADF; fall/spring terms in residence at Hollins; followed by a second six weeks (and thesis concert) at the next summer's ADF. Collins, who performs with Ron K. Brown/EVIDENCE and recently received a New York Dance and Performance ("Bessie") award, had earned her BFA in Dance from Hollins in 2001, so she had an established relationship with Burchfield. But taking a year off to attend school was "a big sacrifice," both financially and in terms of performance opportunities. Her strong desire to work on her own choreography and develop her company, Eternal Works, won out. After much consideration and conversation with Brown, who is supportive, she took a leave of absence from EVIDENCE, promising to return upon completion of her degree.

Though she finds it a challenge to stay connected to her New York world while in Roanoke, Collins says she's making other connections and thinking more deeply about those she already has. She appreciates the program's many opportunities to "learn from working artists," particularly in Burchfield's graduate seminar/critique class.

By contrast, through the Low Residency track, Elkins and Race both feel grateful for this chance to reconnect. "I like the community-building that happens here," says Elkins.

"The whole lens of the world of dance was opened up in such a different way," says Race. "My classmates are the most incredible group of people and everybody has been so generous with sharing their knowledge."

Assimilating new information with the considerable depth of experience these students already possess makes for an invigorating challenge on all levels. If you had asked Race how things were going last summer during ADF she would have replied, "I have no idea what I'm doing or where I'm going." Further along, now she summarizes her experience simply: "I have a wider perspective because I've learned so much. It's been a life-expanding experience."

Lea Marshall is a freelance dance writer; producer/assistant professor at Virginia Commonwealth University's Department of Dance & Choreography; and executive director of Ground Zero Dance Company.