This year marks the 10th anniversary of Loyola’s Dance program. We caught up with some of the program’s alumni to see where they are now.
Hayley Bullock (Graduated 2014)
What is your favorite thing about Loyola’s dance program?
I’d have to say my favorite thing about the program is the people, my friends and the faculty. The entire program faculty is extremely caring and supportive. They all invest deeply in the development and well-being of all the students involved in the Dance program. They are highly knowledgeable, experienced, and bestow loads of wisdom and knowledge on young budding artists. As far as my friends, I’ve met some of my lifelong friends through Loyola’s dance program and our friendship and bond continues to hold strong today.
What is your current job?
I currently work as a management consulting analyst for a global consulting firm.
How did the dance program prepare you for life outside of college?
The Loyola Dance Program has definitely shaped who I am today. I can with 100 percent certainty say that I would not be where I am had I not had the opportunity to build my character and stamina through the program with the aid of the wonderful staff and faculty there. Even though my nine-to-five is not currently in the dance/arts world, I chose my career (management consulting) based on my passion for dance and arts to further develop my business and consulting acumen to come up with solutions for how to keep the performing arts industries alive and well.
Fun Fact:
Though not at the pace and frequency I’d like (wish I had time for more), I continue to take dance classes and grow in my artistry. I try to take ballet at least once a week, Afro-Caribbean, and I’ve recently started taking a heels class that is slightly out of my normal comfort zone but it’s really fun and just another form of self-expression I’m learning to explore! I’m hoping to get back into teaching at some point, too!
Timothy Eidman (Graduated 2016)
What is your favorite thing about Loyola’s dance program?
One of my favorite parts of Loyola’s dance program is the dedicated faculty. Our full-time and part-time faculty live, breathe and sleep dance. They are all excellent professors that know how to be educators before artists themselves. The faculty at Loyola always made sure that the students’ needs were met both inside and out of the studio.
What is your current job?
I am now working as a professional dancer and actor. I have just moved to New York City after becoming a member of the Actors Equity Association.
How did the dance program help prepare you for life outside of college?
Being an artist requires being scrappy, thinking on your toes and being comfortable with uncertainty. The intense schedule that we had to endure to get in all of our dance credits on top of our academic requirements gave me a taste of the variety that my day may hold. As a working professional, my typical day includes often working at multiple jobs as well as auditioning in order to achieve my artistic goals and pay rent.
Abigail Newlon (Graduated 2017)
What is your favorite thing about Loyola’s dance program?
My favorite part is the emphasis on diversity. Diversity in students accepted into the program. Diversity of movement quality and career goals among those students. Diversity when it comes to the techniques studied. It really allows each student to grow to their fullest potential by exposing them to new people, new places, new ideas, and new art.
What is your current job?
I am working as a dance educator with the Chicago Ballet Center and the auditorium theatre, pursuing a career in dance performance.
How did the dance program help prepare you for life outside of college?
The dance program made me a truly multifaceted artist prepared for all things the performance world might throw at me. Knowing that I have trained in classical ballet and modern, as well as post-modern, pointe, jazz, improvisation, pedagogy and composition, has given me the needed confidence to walk into an audition with the awareness that I am truly skilled and prepared for anything.
Cara Scrementi (Graduated 2009)
What is your favorite thing about Loyola’s dance program?
Its momentum and drive for continual growth and evolution. Every time I talk to Amy or go to an event on campus, I am amazed at how much has been accomplished and how many more ideas for new opportunities are in the works.
What is your current job?
Academy partnerships and production manager at The Joffrey Ballet. I also teach choreography and improvisation for Joffrey Academy’s Conservatory, Trainee, and Studio Company programs.
How did the dance program help prepare you for life outside of college?
In general, I strongly believe that an education in dance can help prepare anyone for life outside of college – so much so that I wrote my MFA thesis on this subject and spoke at a TedX event about it. Universal life skills are honed and enhanced alongside technical and artistic growth.
Fun Facts and opportunities
I was a part of a lot of firsts for the Dance Program, which is special to me.
–Enrolled in one of the first classes in the first semester of the program in 2007.
–Honored with the first Dance Minor of the Year Award in 2009.
–First student to choreograph for a departmental performance.
–Enrolled in the first pointe class and performed the first pointe piece in an Informance.
–Probably the first students forced to wear white leotards for a performance (it was the celebration of the new organ, I believe, in Madonna della Strada).
–I think a few friends and I–Casey (Mang) Galanti, Danielle Argyros, Michelle Podmokly, Sara Vogl–did the first photoshoot. The department didn’t sponsor it. We did it for fun. They ended up using some photos on the website and Facebook page. There was a jumping picture of Sara and I on one of the Facebook pages for years. If it’s still there, anyone is welcome to change it at any time.
I took Dance History with the Lucia Mauro. For my final project, I chose to create a documentary of sorts. I had no experience in film or editing. Needless to say, there were some struggles along the way, and it did not turn out as I expected. After that project, I swore off anything that had to do with videos and film, but then found myself the following year working at Hubbard Street and filming/editing for them. Now I have a great interest in dance film and continue to dabble in my own creations. Interesting how stuff like that plays out over time.
Lauren Serra (Graduated 2013)
What is your favorite this about Loyola’s dance program?
I loved the community. It’s rare to find a group of people who ALL want to see you succeed, and who lift you up to be your best. Even though every artistic environment is a bit competitive, it never felt catty or cut-throat.
What is your current job?
I work as a brand strategist for start-up companies—a career move that I 100 percent attribute to my experience with the Loyola dance program. It truly was a start up at the time I was there, and introduced me to my passion for building things that didn’t exist before!
How did the dance program prepare you for life outside of college?
I think most people leave school with tangible, career-based skills. But with the arts, you get something a little different. You learn human-skills – which I think is far more important. Through the dance department, I learned how to be scrappy and make something out of nothing. To raise my own bar, and only expect the best from myself and from others. I learned grit, patience, friendship – all things that are 100 percent necessary to be a successful PERSON.
Kristen Rybicki (Graduated 2012)
What is your favorite thing about Loyola’s dance program?
The community! It is a small group of invested artists all working together, while also pursuing their niche within this art form. The friends I met dancing at Loyola are still some of the best ones I’ve got, and my relationships with instructors have continued to deepen and morph. It has been my pleasure to come back and choreograph, teach and lecture as an alumna, and I love how much each member of the community is valued from day one in the studio through the trajectory of their professional career.
What is your current job?
I am a full-time Dance Teacher and Fine Arts Coordinator at Regina Dominican High School in Wilmette. In addition to teaching classes in the Fine Arts Department, I also choreograph the musical and moderate the student-run dance company. I am part of the Dance Center of LaGrange faculty, and I am currently finishing my 200-RYT yoga teacher training. So, a full-time job, and a couple side hustles!
How did the dance program prepare you for life outside of college?
One thing that makes Loyola’s Dance Program unique is its connection to the Jesuit mission of being of service to others through creating art. It was instilled in me that my art could change lives, that I could inspire people to think differently, to create positive communities, and give back through Dance. The faculty were instrumental in building my career, as they were always available to talk and always willing to reach out to their networks for me. I was given a really solid education through the practical and theoretical applications of dance, and I’m really grateful for what was offered. The strides that the program has taken since I graduated are incredible.
Want more? Check out this article about the dance program featured in the Loyola Phoenix.