“I Did It My Way!” Career Development Opportunities | Student Blog

Over the past four years I have had the opportunity to delve into many different avenues of the dance world.

My artistry and passion for dance has only deepened in the endeavors that I have followed outside of technique classes. I've learned so much about self-sufficiency, carving one’s own path, and the importance of outreach and collaboration. I have gained the tools for communication within my dance classes, yet the means with which I use these tools has been defined by my work with the outreach work, and my discoveries during the summer.

During my sophomore year, I started to work with two of my classmates, a jazz saxophonist, and a drama major with a fabulous voice. Together we applied for the Gluck Community Fellowship Program, and we have been performing together ever since. Gluck is one of the most informative and fulfilling career opportunities at Juilliard. Our group has developed a program centered around breaking down the creative process and cross-disciplinary collaboration through improvisation. For dancers, improvisation is vital to communicating with other artistic languages as well as expressing yourself in a creative process or an audition setting. Improv happens to be Immanuel’s main language as a jazz saxophonist. Julia, the actress, uses improvisation in her daily practice as well as when she sings with Immanuel. The main reason that Gluck has been informative for my career development is that it has helped me recognize the power of art to heal and to reach beyond words. For the past three years our group has traveled to psychiatric units, rehabilitation centers, hospice care facilities, and pediatric units. In each performance we receive different feedback and different emotional responses, yet always a sense of complete support from the patients. When we perform the room, wherever it is, is filled with a mutual understanding of something that cannot be explained. I think that this appreciation and faith in the power of art is imperative to career development, especially since careers in the art world are full of challenges as well as self-made opportunities.

Another career development opportunity at Juilliard is the ability to apply for grant funding through the Alan D. Marks Center for Careers and Entrepreneurship. In my second year, we had a class that introduced us to the art of grant writing. Since then I have been able to apply for, and receive funding from Juilliard in order to pursue further training in contemporary dance during the summer and to take voice lessons. I have learned how to put my mission into words, to craft a budget, and to plan well ahead of time for the logistics required to plan a trip. This past summer, with the help of the Juilliard Career Grant I was able to travel to Berlin, New Hampshire, San Francisco, and Banff, Canada. These experiences led me to build professional ties and supplied more reasons to apply for grants! The choreographer who directed the program I attended in Berlin created my Senior Showcase solo this spring break. The director I worked with in San Francisco asked me to come dance with his project-based company this summer. As for Banff and New Hampshire, I created ties in both places with artists from around the world.At