Thanks to renewed support from the office of the vice provost for the arts, Ohio State Dance launched the Summer H.A.T.CH. (Holistic Approaches to Transformative Choreography) Incubator Program with Sidra Bell and DCDC in residence July 5-13, 2024. Department Chair Charles O. Anderson said, “The Ohio State University Department of Dance is striving to be a premiere hub of innovative contemporary and experimental dance invested in liberatory transformation within a city and state with profound resources in support of the arts. To that end, we are developing a new curricular model that couples academic course offerings with multiweek summer intensive training during summer sessions 1, 2 and 3 that could allow an undergraduate to complete a BFA in three years and two summers and MFA candidates to complete their program in two years and one to two summers. Ohio State Dance consistently ranks as one of the top dance departments in the country and holds a longstanding reputation as a leader in the field. Many university dance programs are considered “The Best” in published rankings but few of these published rankings address the question: ‘The best for whom?’ Conservatory programs—which tend to claim the top spots on any ranking for university dance programs—may not have other options for students who want to transition into or combine other tracks, like arts administration, scholarship, design, technology and film or education. There are still distinct differences between conservatory programs that may not be reflected in rankings. And most relevant to our current departmental mission and vision- most of these programs do not centralize critical pedagogical approaches in service to liberatory praxis to inform their curricula and performance programming wholistically. We wish to self-determine what it means to be great or ‘the best’ within a 21st century context. Over the past six years the department has made an intentional effort to diversify and decolonize our engagement with ‘technique,’ what it means to prepare our students professionally, and the ways we approach interdisciplinarity. We have been thinking about why and how we achieve this ranking based on the aforementioned criteria in an effort to reflect the pluralistic aesthetics of the dance industry and related fields of dance studies and education. H.A.T.CH. is our strategy to not only distinguish ourselves as a department of dance, but also draw attention to the rich arts programing and support here in Columbus and in Ohio.”
Meaningful Movement: At H.A.T.CH., we believe in the words of Angela Davis: "Progressive art can assist people to learn not only about the objective forces at work in the society in which they live, but also about the intense social character of their interior lives." Join us next summer in harnessing the power of dance to propel social emancipation and liberatory transformation.
Our Intention: HATCH is more than just a dance residency. It's a progressive approach to movement within The Ohio State Department of Dance, dedicated to becoming a premier hub of innovative contemporary and experimental dance. We are committed to fostering community in Columbus and in Ohio (in partnership with our sister institutions and community partners in Ohio).
