“The events we do with Prime Movers help students create community. I think this is crucial because, although we are together all the time in classes, we’re focusing on class. It’s like tunnel vision. Class is your top priority. So, to have events like this and a club like this, it just creates space where we are comfortable and can form these relationships that are irreplaceable. It just makes you a better student and a better person.”
Anna Creekmore knows first-hand the benefit of finding a community. Creekmore came to UNC Greensboro from just outside Baltimore to pursue a BFA in Dance Education with K-12 Licensure and a minor in Arts Administration:
“Being from out of state I needed to cultivate a home away from home. None of my family is nearby. They can’t come to my performances. So being involved in Prime Movers really helped me find a community to serve and to receive from, and a support system that wants to see me do my best.”
Creekmore joined the School of Dance student organization Prime Movers and became an officer of the group first as Secretary, then Vice President, and now President. Working with fellow students and faculty advisor Janet Lilly (Professor of Dance), Creekmore helps to create the annual Prime Movers events:
“One of the recent events was an evening with the professors. We have snacks and play games, and it’s a great way for the students to get to know the professors and start forming those bonds that are so important.
“We also put on a concert each semester. The one in the fall is for upperclassmen so they can fulfill a choreography class requirement. Last year we started Movers and Makers, which is a concert for any dance student to choreograph.”
Prime Movers primarily interacts with the School of Dance, but Creekmore would like to see the outreach extend further:
“We’d really like to expand beyond the School of Dance and create some big collaborations with other areas of the College of Visual and Performing Arts, something like an improv jam with musicians and visual artists and theatre majors, too.
“Thinking even bigger, we’d love to see this grow to the point where we can involve the UNCG student body at large. We’ve been talking about maybe doing a talent show. We have such an amazing facility, and it would be so great to have non-Dance majors come see it and know where we are and who we are as a School of Dance.
“And beyond that, we’d like to be involved more in the Greensboro Community. We did this with a performance at one of the Music for a Sunday Evening in the Park events last summer. We choreographed some pieces to perform with the band Africa Unplugged in the Jan Van Dyke Performance Space in the Greensboro Cultural Arts Center, and we pulled in audience members to join us.”
Creekmore says Prime Movers truly is for the students and by the students, relying on faculty only to adjudicate the auditions for the concerts and to advise about the final order of the concerts:
“It feels so good to be able to say this is all done by students. The choreography, the stage management. Everything you see is done by us. It’s just wonderful to see us all come together and then so many students come and watch, and it’s just so loud and supportive. It’s just amazing.
“And it’s a great way for us to prepare for a career in dance, for presenting work in the real world. We’re learning about accountability to ourselves. The only way you can be in these concerts is to run these rehearsals, coordinate with your cast, coordinate costuming, and figure out the money part. That might sound unpleasant to some people, but money and budgets are a part of it, too.”
Creekmore decided on UNC Greensboro based on materials she was sent from the School of Dance and the recommendation of her dance teacher in Baltimore. Now she serves as a Student Ambassador, giving tours to prospective students:
“I think the most important thing I can tell them is why I love this program. Our professors are so smart, supportive, and well-connected. And here’s the biggest thing—you can’t really understand it fully until you come here—but you will find a family and your individualism will be encouraged here.
“There are so many special things about this School of Dance. Even just the little moments. For example, at the end of class we do this thing where we drum on the floor, and sometimes we just keep going, drumming, and we all start dancing with each other just for fun. So, for ten minutes or so after the class has ended, we are all still dancing and having a good ol’ time. Those are the memories that I think make this place so special.”
Creekmore and her fellow Prime Movers are planning for the fall concert, which she hopes will be well-attended:
“Ticket proceeds from the concerts go right back into the school, helping to fund students going to the American College Dance Association conference and guest choreographers for senior projects.”
Here’s another reason to attend the performance, adds Creekmore:
“It’s fun! You want to see support in action? Come to the concert. It’ s going to be loud but it’s going to be a good loud. We’ll all be yelling, happy, and excited for our fellow dancers. You’re going to love it!”
Prime Movers Concert
October 25th and 26th @ 7:30 pm
Coleman Dance Theatre
Tickets available at go.uncg.edu/dancetix
Story by Terri W. Relos
Photo credit: Anna Joyce