USC Dance Major Receives 2011-12 Fulbright Scholarship

 

Juliana Jordan, a recent Dance and Russian double major graduate, was among many dance program students awarded research and grant scholarships this past year. In April, 2011 she received the Fulbright Scholarship for an English teaching assistantship grant.

Jordan is one of five students at the university to receive Fulbright honors this year, and one of 1700 students to receive the award in the nation.  58 recipients have come from Carolina since the establishment of the university's Office of Fellowships and Scholar Programs in 1994.

Jordan will not spend her ten months in Belgorod, Russia just teaching English; she will also teach dance in the community. She explains what excited her most when applying for this particular program.

“I loved that in this program, grantees were not only allowed but expected to find ways to be integrated into the community,” said Jordan. “I've always appreciated community involvement and international exchange and I had hoped I’d be able to use my love and knowledge of dance in this way.”

When she applied for the Fulbright grant, she detailed her goal to teach dance in an orphanage while she would be there. Jordan said she was inspired by a similar project that dance instructors Thaddeus Davis and Tanya Wideman-Davis took on in the Columbia area. In a project and performance entitled “Balance,” the husband and wife duo looked to their creative dance classes at the women and children’s homeless shelter for insight into homelessness in Columbia. Davis guided her through the process of taking a similar project to Russia.

Jordan said her mentorship with Davis not only shaped her application process for the Fulbright but also her outlook on the importance of dance in the community. Davis emphasized that the dance that they brought to the Columbia women and children’s shelter did more than provide an outlet; it gave them an opportunity to create and explore, forgetting their current hardships. Something Jordan hopes to provide in an orphanage setting.

“Something very valuable that Thaddeus has taught me is that dance is life and that everything can be applied and displayed through dance,” said Jordan. “No matter the obstacles I may face in learning how best to use dance in my new setting, dance is a form of communication that will both provide perspective as well as material for me to express.”

-- Article by Olivia Anderson, Dance Performance Major