The first thing professor Molly Buchmann told her class was to act and move as if no one was watching them.
“If you don’t know what to do, don’t break,” she said. “Do something, do anything. Just keep moving.”
Buchmann, a professional in residence and director of dance, was instructing her choreography class. Before her sat 14 students clad in leotards and tights, ready to learn how to create movement.
The dance department created the class three years ago, just after the University’s dance minor was instituted.
The class THTR 3801, which is offered every fall, can be taken for three hours of credit.
Christina Jaffar, an English senior, said the class and the dance program were part of the reason she loved LSU.
“I found myself in the dance classes here,” she said. “I love this class and the challenges it presents.”
The first challenge Buchmann gave her students was to sit in partners and mirror each other’s movement. Some moved with ballet-like grace. Others imitated a Karate Kid wax on-wax off movement.
Rebecca Mathews enrolled in LSU just so she could take dance.
“This class has challenged me to think about different ways to move; to see movement from an entirely different angle,” she said.
When Mathews and her partner both fell as part of the exercise, Buchmann said, “I’m not sure what happened over there, but I’m glad you’re exploring.”
Sometimes the class is hardest for the students such as Rebecca, who have extensive experience in structured dance.
“It’s difficult for them to break out of the patterns of movement they’ve been taught for so long,” Buchmann said.
She said the students danced modern dance style instead of ballet for this reason.
“With modern dance, the student is much more free in their movement,” she said.
Alyson Cole, a philosophy junior, said freedom was what she loved most about the class.
“It’s not confining,” she said. “It’s as if you’re free to express yourself in whatever way you want.”
Jessica Collins, a painting senior, agreed. She is using the class to help with her final art project, by photographing dancers and then trying to capture their movement in her painting.
Buchmann said choreography is essentially about movement. She makes her students move in ways they never have. These students don’t walk around the room; they dance, roll, slide and slither.
Watching students discover their own freedom is the best part about the class, Buchmann said. “The excitement they exhibit when they discover a new way to move is inspiring,” she said.