Grand Canyon University dance students recently participated in an international summer intensive in Italy, organized through a collaboration between the university’s Dance Department, Global Studies office, and EF Study Abroad. Chair of Dance Bekki Price worked with Global Studies Program Coordinator Jessica Landes to create this opportunity.
The 11-day trip began in Rome, where students visited landmarks such as the Pantheon, Trevi Fountain, Colosseum, Spanish Steps, and various museums. Price said her aim was to expose students to new opportunities: “One thing I really wanted for students is finding out how many opportunities are out there. A lot of students in many disciplines come in and kind of have their life mapped out. But there are endless opportunities … and I hope they take the jump, put themselves out there and continue to dream big.”
After sightseeing in Rome, the group traveled to Viterbo for a three-day workshop at Campagnia Petrilla Danza under Director Loris Petrillo. Students engaged in five-hour daily training sessions focusing on new dance techniques and movement methods not typically practiced at GCU.
Senior Kadynce Ross described the experience: “It is always amazing being able to train somewhere else,” she said. “When Bekki mentioned the idea of going to Italy to see who is interested, immediately I said I am making this happen and how are we going to do it? When else am I going to get to go to Italy with the dance program?”
The workshops included exercises using trampolines that emphasized balance and resistance through handstands and inversions. Group activities challenged participants’ spatial awareness as four dancers shared a single trampoline.
Senior Paige Heilig commented on adapting to different training styles: “It was being one with the group, it wasn’t solely an individual experience,” she said. “They train in very different ways from what we are used to. They worked out different muscles I didn’t really realize we needed to work out. We danced for five hours per day because they are just used to going so much and so hard.
“It was a lot of familiar things with a different take. I feel lucky to have this experience before I graduate because it is at a more malleable time of life and people don’t always fully grasp the expansiveness of dance without going outside of the box.”
Students also attended a private performance by Twain Dance Production Center at Teatro dell’Unione followed by a tour of the theater. The workshops incorporated martial arts movements into choreography; specifically capoeira taught participants how physical strength can be expressed through dance using wooden dowels.
Ross noted how anatomy played into their lessons: “A lot of the things they talked about was the physics of how we move because they are all about anatomy here. It was very cool I was able to connect the kinesiology side of my major and my dance minor together.”
Language differences were overcome through demonstration rather than verbal instruction, highlighting nonverbal communication’s role in uniting cultures on stage.
Before returning home, students completed their final workshop at Istituto Addestramento Lavoratori dello Spettacolo in Rome where they studied contemporary fusion techniques.
Senior MacKenzie Bell reflected on what she gained from participating: “As a dance major, opportunities are sometimes limited because it’s such a niche major,” she said. “It was cool to take what we love doing and what we’ve trained for, a lot of us our entire lives, and get to experience it in a different culture.
“It really opened my eyes to the possibilities of international dance. I have never considered that as a career, but after this trip, it showed me that is a possibility. We are prepared for that because of the department we have at GCU.”
