WEBVTT 00:00:09.000 --> 00:00:16.000 Oh I love dance, and I feel very, very lucky and very fortunate to get paid to do something that I really enjoy doing, such as dancing. 00:00:16.000 --> 00:00:20.000 And it helps to keep me healthy, physically healthy, but also mentally and emotionally healthy. 00:00:20.000 --> 00:00:26.000 The courses I teach at Western Oregon University, of course the first thing I have on here is my West African dance pants, so I teach African dance. 00:00:26.000 --> 00:00:30.000 But also non-traditional partnering, which is what we do with Polaris Dance Theatre. 00:00:30.000 --> 00:00:38.000 Also Dance and Technology, where we integrate technology into modern dance. Also I teach the advanced modern dance classes as well 00:00:40.000 --> 00:00:47.000 Well, in African dance we're doing two dances. We're doing Cuckoo, which is a dance from the Beyla people in Guinea, and we're also doing Yankadi-Makru. 00:00:47.000 --> 00:00:54.000 So those two dances are from Guinea. We have live drummers, which is really an exciting thing to have because it adds so much to African dance 00:00:54.000 --> 00:00:58.000 and it gives you the real feeling of what it's like to dance in Africa. 00:00:58.000 --> 00:00:66.000 In the modern dance I try to blend a couple of different things. So the physicality also with traditional modern dance technique, also with athleticism. 00:01:06.000 --> 00:01:12.000 The reason why I'm passionate about teaching at Western Oregon University is because of the support for the arts. 00:01:12.000 --> 00:01:20.000 There's incredible support here, with the administration, great facilities, very good faculty, and students who are very passionate and very interested in dance. 00:01:22.000 --> 00:01:33.000 Here at Western Oregon University I teach modern technique, ballet technique. I also teach Introduction to Dance, and I teach Pilates. 00:01:33.000 --> 00:01:38.000 This year I choreographed a dance for the Spring Dance Concert. 00:01:38.000 --> 00:01:44.000 I think international students should study dance here at Western because we have such a diverse faculty, 00:01:44.000 --> 00:01:48.000 faculty that can teach not only modern and ballet technique, 00:01:48.000 --> 00:01:54.000 but we have hula, African, hip-hop, wellness, kinesiology, also Labanotation. 00:01:55.000 --> 00:01:65.000 I just love the well-roundedness of the program, that it's not just technique, but that it's a very holistic approach. 00:02:12.000 --> 00:02:15.000 My name's Carl Massey. I'm an adjunct professor at Western Oregon University. 00:02:15.000 --> 00:02:20.000 I would describe the facilities here as top-notch because they have much potential for everything. 00:02:20.000 --> 00:02:26.000 They're clean. They're spacious. They have barres so you can actually get your practice on. 00:02:26.000 --> 00:02:34.000 They have TVs, sound systems so you can record yourself and see how you're doing so you can, you can give yourself correction if the teacher's not available. 00:02:34.000 --> 00:02:41.000 They're open to the students, so if a student does need to work, they can come in here by themselves and work without being hassled or having to worry about too much. 00:02:41.000 --> 00:02:43.000 It's very cultural here, actually. 00:02:43.000 --> 00:02:45.000 I was actually out a couple nights ago talking to people. 00:02:45.000 --> 00:02:48.000 I mean, there's so many people from all over the country here already. 00:02:48.000 --> 00:02:56.000 If you can't afford to go learn from another country, coming here is off the hook, because you have everyone from those countries all coming down to here. 00:02:58.000 --> 00:02:64.000 I like Western Oregon 'cause the facility's nice, the campus is gorgeous, the people here are really friendly. 00:03:04.000 --> 00:03:09.000 The staff and the faculty and the students all get along on so many levels. 00:03:09.000 --> 00:03:12.000 It's not so much just on-clock, off-clock. 00:03:12.000 --> 00:03:17.000 The students are friends with the professors and the professors are friends with the students. Everything coincides well. 00:03:17.000 --> 00:03:23.000 It's not just a learning experience, it's getting a chance to meet people and build friendships. 00:03:23.000 --> 00:03:28.000 So if you come here to dance, you have performing opportunities. And of course, the main Spring Dance Concert, which is every spring. 00:03:28.000 --> 00:03:31.000 There's also informal concerts every term. 00:03:31.000 --> 00:03:37.000 Then they also have a group Rainbow Dance Theatre, and they perform probably about 30 to 40 times in the year. 00:03:37.000 --> 00:03:41.000 So there's incredible performing opportunities here at Western Oregon University.