♫ ♫ ♫ [rhythmic drum beat]
ALICIA GRAF MACK: The mission of Juilliard Dance,
is to train a 21st century artist,
who is well-versed in the techniques
of ballet and modern dance
and can take those techniques and make them contemporary.
TARYN KASCHOCK RUSSELL: I love the creative development
of all of our artists.
There's such space,
and willingness to explore the unknown.
So, there's a lot of tools
that are offered right away.
CYRIE TOPETE: We can use these tools in our tool bag
for our whole career.
And how they teach is incredible.
And they treat it with such clarity
and they're very compassionate about what they do.
GRAF MACK: I believe our Dance Division
has some of the most engaged and caring
world-class faculty.
TERESE CAPUCILLI: We try to cultivate the individuals
that are brought into this school
to find their own potential.
And because the classes are so small,
you can look at each individual dancer
to help them realize themselves as choreographer,
performer, teacher emerging.
NAYA LOVELL: I think that the Dance faculty really take into account
how each individual moves,
changing it up for that person
to then challenge them into moving differently.
From there, growth happens.
BOBBI JENE SMITH: I really look at myself
more than I'm dancing with the students,
less than I'm teaching them.
They're teaching me just as much.
And if we can create the conversation together,
then we can fly.
ETHAN COLANGELO: I don't know any other school that has
the amount of opportunities
that Juilliard has for choreographers.
I didn't come here thinking
I was gonna be a choreographer whatsoever.
Over the four years,
I've really learned to practice patience
and understand that sometimes the best results
come with further investigation.
TODD BAKER: In the student choreographic workshops,
we are given the opportunity to take risks
to try new things.
I definitely feel like
I have room to discover my voice.
GRAF MACK: We are seated right here in the Lincoln Center campus.
And that brings a very special awareness to a student
and their place in the dance world.
BAKER: Going to New York City Center
to see something like Ailey or NDT
or going right across the street
to see a New York City ballet piece
or a Paul Taylor piece,
those are all very different forms of dance
that we are exposed to in such a small
radius of an area.
GRAF MACK: Our studios are always open
to guests and guest artists.
And through the repertoire that we perform
in our New Dances series
and our Spring Dances series,
we have these iconic choreographers
coming into the building.
LOVELL: One of the things that I love
most about Juilliard is
the opportunity to have guest artists come in
and create different works on you
and pushing myself to do those things
and not confine myself.
CAPUCILLI: The more choreography, the more rep that they're doing,
the more emergent into
what's accessible to them at Juilliard
and kinda finding themselves with clarity.
All these prepare them for the outside world.
Juilliard dance is unique
because of also the environment at Juilliard.
We hear musicians playing in the studios,
and we hear the actors working on the stairway
on something that is going to be presented.
LOVELL: Being around so many talented musicians, actors,
dancers, singers,
have taken the advantage to venture out
and meet new people,
and that's how I feel you make connections
that can then carry on later in your career
and from there it just blossoms.
BAKER: I know myself much better now.
I have these tools and choices to pull from
in any situation.
TOPETE: I feel supported in whatever I do,
which is really, really beautiful to experience.
GRAF MACK: The most fulfilling experience
for me as an educator
is to see a young person come in in their first year
and clearly they're talented.
They have the goods.
But to see them grow into themselves
and they have a confidence about them,
that is fulfilling for me.
To see someone really grasp that dream
and take it on into the future.
♫ ♫ ♫ [slow classical music]