[laura_jean]

Hello!
My name is Laura Kennedy and I am am coming to MAC in the fall (2009) for the bachelor of science in nursing program! I was wondering if anyone could tell me about McMaster's dance team?
Thanks!

[davey]

i dont know anything about mac dance but...

YAY! NURSE!

also, congratz on getting in! i heard admissions were really high this year.

[lorend]

Unfortunately I don't know a whole lot about the McMaster Dance company, but I know a little bit...

Here is the website for the McMaster Centre for Dance. To be a member of one of the companies you have to audition, and the auditions are held sometime in early September. They do a bunch of performances and competition throughout the year in various different contexts. For example, the Mac team has won the OUCH (Ontario University Competition for Hip Hop) competition three or four times in the past five years.

[nh999]

There is also a McMaster Dance Club, which I believe is open to anyone who wants to join. This site appears to be fairly up-to-date, and could give you a bit of an idea of the club, if you wanted to just dance for fun (vs. for competition, which I think the Dance Company is...? not sure about that though)

http://macdanceclub.tripod.com/index.html

[livy_04]

Hey Laura,

Congrats for getting in and for wanting to continue dancing in University! I was surprised my first year to find out what great opportunities Mac has for dancers.

I guess my questions to you would be what kind of dance do you like, and at what level do you dance at? You have a few major options:

1. Dance Club: a really fun, student-run group for dancers of all levels. Mainly you will learn choreo for a specific dance for the annual show they have in Feb. You choose what kind of style you want to be part of (They have everything: ballet, pointe, jazz, lyrical, modern, tap, hiphop, musical theatre, irish, belly dancing etc) and you can be in as many dances as you want. You go to an 'audition' where everyone gets in, but they place you in a dance that is appropriate for your skill level. All the dances are student choreographed and for the rest of the time before the show you spend an hour per week per dance learning the dance you will perform at the show. I've done a few dances with dance club for the past 2 years and I've had a great time!

2. McMaster Dance Company: This is for dancers that have more time to commit to dance every week and who are at a pretty high skill level (those who've done competitive dance or been part of another dance company in high school). There are 3 branches in the Company: Modern, Jazz and Urban (hip-hop). I can give you more details on any branch if you're interested. In the beginning of sept you audition in front of a panel of judges and perform a short solo. There are on average 10 people per company and usually you are in only one of the three companies, but more recently there's been crossover (you could be in modern and jazz for example). Expect to be dancing 8-10hrs a week. The dance company has one show at the end of each sememster, do competitions in the spring and perform in a variety of other places (charities, community dance shows etc). There is a big creative component and all company members are emcouraged to choreograph for the shows. The company gets lots of guest teachers, but have no official 'choreographer' or 'teachers'. Each company runs their own classes. I'm in the Modern branch of the company, and it's been one of the best things I've done at University. You get to be really close with other company members and some of my best friends at Mac I've met through the Dance Company. I could go on about it forever!

3. Verve: They just started this year (2008-2009) and I'm not 100% if they'll be around next year. They are a compeitive dance group that focuses on jazz and lyrical. Similar commitment and skill level to the Dance Company is required. They also hold auditions at the begining of the sept where a solo is required. They are most focused on competitions in the spring season but have also had a short show each semester this year.

Let me know if you have any other questions,
Olivia

[jessie<3]

Verve is most definately around!!!

[PTGregD]

If you youtube "McMaster", some of the top videos are of the McMaster Dance team rocking competitions. Worth a watch!

[Mowicz]

4. McMaster also has a breakdancing and funk styles club...if that's more your thing. (:

We occasionally have special guests (renowned dancers, last year we flew in "Lazy Legs" and we intend on doing so again this year), and hold workshops for beginners, and weekly 'sessions' (open-practices).

Mac's clubs are rather diverse...you name it, and there's a club for it.

[Ownaginatios]

Originally Posted by Mowicz

4. McMaster also has a breakdancing and funk styles club...if that's more your thing. (:

How many people are in that anyway? One of my partners for a project last year kept talking about how epic it was and how he had to raise money for it.

...what does a breakdancing club need money for anyway; more/better collapsed cardboard boxes for spinning around on?

[feonateresa]

McMaster wins those OUCH competitions quite a lot. =)

[deadpool]

Originally Posted by Ownaginatios

...what does a breakdancing club need money for anyway; more/better collapsed cardboard boxes for spinning around on?

..tshirts? to put on events... tons of stuff.

[Phoenix]

whenever the breakdancing club does events in the middle of MUSC, they draw HUGE crowds so i'm sure if they got some money, they would use it very well.

[Mowicz]

Originally Posted by Ownaginatios

How many people are in that anyway? One of my partners for a project last year kept talking about how epic it was and how he had to raise money for it.

...what does a breakdancing club need money for anyway; more/better collapsed cardboard boxes for spinning around on?

Your comment's amusing...certainly naive, but amusing. Where to begin?

Last I checked, there were something like 150 members. Money was raised through T-Shirt and hat sales (we had a guy do custom 'name' graffiti), and I wasn't treasurer, but some substantial amount of 'prize money' was provided by the MSU for competitions. Every year, McMaster hosts the "Steel City Cyphurs" jam, and Quarters is packed to the gills.

Here's a clip I chose at random from last year's event, which took place in Jan 2009 (you may or may not recognize quarters):

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jc4P-...eature=related

-------------------

Last year, as I mentioned in a previous post, we flew in "Lazy Legs" an inspirational speaker who breakdances despite having an unknown, incurable spinal condition. He does his spins and tricks with his crutches:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T5mv_...eature=related

(I'm featured in this video (: EDIT: Actually I'm not ): They cut out right before I started doing stuff, but you can see me present, haha.)

In addition, we've done shows to promote other clubs and a whole slew of fund-raising activities, such as helping to promote and collect donations for "5 days for the homeless" in front of the MUSC (among others).

So don't worry, everyone makes light of MSU Club of the Year:

https://www.msumcmaster.ca/clubs/ove...o/overview.htm

------------------

EDIT: LOL ok...I dug up a very old video from 2005. It's interesting if:

-You like people making an ass out of themselves
-You like dancing (specifically, a dance form known as "Locking") It may not seem like dancing since there's no music in much of Mac...but I assure you it is.
-You want to see what the Mac Campus looked like in 2005 (Particularly, the games room has changed a lot).

(I am neither party in this video, but I knew both of them if that counts :p) :

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rxWj7fOQISA