MFA Dance Alumnus Emily Olesen featured in DanceTeacher Magazine

Emily Olesonm MFA Dance '12, heads Davis & Elkins College’s new program in American vernacular dance. Click to read article in DanceTeacher Magazine.

Last November, Davis & Elkins College in Elkins, West Virginia, launched a first-of-its-kind program in American vernacular dance. The program, which includes tap, Appalachian clogging, flat-footing, Irish step dancing and urban dance, has recently begun auditioning and accepting students.

Program director Emily Oleson (MFA Dance '12), herself a percussive dancer and co-founder of Good Foot Dance Company, calls the program a “tap-friendly vernacular dance program” and envisions between 30 and 50 dance majors within the next five years. Students can choose an emphasis in vernacular forms, sustainable dance practices or modern dance. “I’m here to prepare students to be empowered artists,” she says. “That means finding their own aesthetic preferences and making goals based on what they like.” She believes training dancers to be more fluent in related percussive forms will help them develop into versatile artists who can teach, coach and perform.

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