{"id":14120,"date":"2013-02-26T18:00:17","date_gmt":"2013-02-27T00:00:17","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.discoverclarksville.com\/articles\/?p=14120"},"modified":"2013-02-26T13:38:06","modified_gmt":"2013-02-26T19:38:06","slug":"austin-peay-state-university-dance-program-expands-reputation","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.discoverclarksville.com\/articles\/2013\/02\/26\/austin-peay-state-university-dance-program-expands-reputation\/","title":{"rendered":"Austin Peay State University Dance Program expands Reputation"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"AustinClarksville, TN<\/strong> – In 2005, Austin Peay State University developed a dance minor program with one faculty member and a handful of students. Seven years later, the program has three full-time faculty members and several graduates enrolled in Master of Fine Arts programs around the country.<\/p>\n

The name \u201cAustin Peay\u201d is also becoming more familiar in collegiate dance circles, with the school having choreographed pieces selected two years in a row to be performed at the American College Dance Festival gala performance.<\/p>\n

\"APSU<\/a>

APSU assistant professor of dance Margaret Rennerfeldt, associate professor of dance Marcus Hayes and chair of the APSU Area of Theatre and Dance Brian Vernon inside one of the APSU dance studios.<\/p><\/div>\n

\u201cSeven years ago, there was nothing,\u201d Marcus Hayes, associate professor of dance, said. \u201cNow there\u2019s all this activity and it\u2019s good. It\u2019s solid.\u201d<\/p>\n

But rather than basking in this recent success, the three dance faculty members are moving aggressively forward to provide the APSU program with a national reputation. This semester alone, the professors have spent nearly every weekend at conferences and workshops, allowing many to hear the words \u201cAustin Peay\u201d for the first time.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s very calculated,\u201d Brian Vernon, chair of the APSU Area of Theatre and Dance, said. \u201cIt\u2019s not by chance. Marcus and (assistant professor) Margaret Rennerfeldt are purposely doing this for recruitment, for growth, for name recognition.\u201d<\/p>\n

Below are a few of the activities Vernon, Hayes and Rennerfeldt have attended this spring semester:<\/p>\n

    \n
  • Somatic Movement Training<\/strong> \u2013 In January, Rennerfeldt received her somatic movement educator certification from the Center for Body Mind Movement in Pittsburgh, PA.<\/li>\n
  • Alabama Dance Council<\/strong> \u2013 In early February, Rennerfeldt was invited to teach an all-day workshop for school teachers on integrating dance or movement into classroom curriculum areas.<\/li>\n
  • 2013 Alabama Dance Festival<\/strong> \u2013 Vernon taught workshops on tap dancing to all levels of dancers attending the festival.<\/li>\n
  • Huntingdon Dance Festival<\/strong> – Hayes was invited to the Dixie Carter Center for Performing Arts in Huntingdon, TN, to teach a dance technique course as part of the festival. APSU dance students performed for the public on the second night of the festival.<\/li>\n
  • Tennessee Thespian Conference<\/strong> \u2013 Vernon taught a tap workshop at this conference in Memphis, attended by some 900 high school students.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n

    The next few months also promise to be busy for the dance faculty members. In early March, Hayes and Rennerfeldt will take students to the American College Dance Festival in Jackson, MS. Hayes will teach a choreography class and two modern technique classes, and Rennderfeldt will teach two somatic workshops. Then on March 23, the two professors will head to Memphis for a Tennessee Association of Dance clinic.<\/p>\n

    \u201cMargaret is teaching ballet, and I\u2019m teaching jazz,\u201d Hayes said. \u201cWe are absolutely sprinkling the seeds of our program across the state.\u201d<\/p>\n

    For more information on the APSU dance minor, contact the APSU Area of Theatre and Dance at 931.221.6767.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

    Clarksville, TN – In 2005, Austin Peay State University developed a dance minor program with one faculty member and a handful of students. Seven years later, the program has three full-time faculty members and several graduates enrolled in Master of Fine Arts programs around the country. The name \u201cAustin Peay\u201d is also becoming more familiar […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[4],"tags":[17957,23,12362,262,16060,825,2378,17959,17958,1436,10419,7857,10725,12364],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p4xGYI-3FK","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.discoverclarksville.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14120"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.discoverclarksville.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.discoverclarksville.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.discoverclarksville.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/6"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.discoverclarksville.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=14120"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.discoverclarksville.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14120\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":14121,"href":"https:\/\/www.discoverclarksville.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14120\/revisions\/14121"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.discoverclarksville.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=14120"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.discoverclarksville.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=14120"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.discoverclarksville.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=14120"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}