Katie Kairys and Tamara Williams come from very different dance backgrounds. Kairys has been dancing all her life, and Williams has not laced up ballet shoes since middle school. But their diplomas will include one matching feature: a dance minor.

Starting next semester, students in any school or college will be able to officially declare a minor in dance.

The minor is a vision a long time in the making. About 20 years ago, Syracuse University offered a dance minor. But after a faculty shake-up in the dance program and a loss of interest from students, the minor fell by the wayside.

A pair of dance teachers — Annalisa Osterhout and Laurie Deyo — reached a point where they decided it was silly that SU did not have a dance minor. All the classes are offered now, but it has not been a designated minor.

‘We got to the point where enough was enough. We just really wanted the dance minor back because so many kids have asked us about it,’ Osterhout said. ‘Our kids were signing petitions. And we just did a lot of work leading up to it to realize that yes, in fact, there is the need and the desire for it.’

So three years ago, Osterhout started the paperwork: outlines, syllabi and course descriptions. She said Deyo jumped in to help her finish it.

‘Now we’ve finally gotten our wish, so to speak,’ Osterhout said.

The 22-credit minor is based in the exercise science department in the School of Education but is open to students with any major. Course options include ballet, western dance, African dance, motor behavior, nutrition and anatomy.

‘No matter where you are on campus,’ Osterhout said. ‘Suppose in your heart, you’ve always been a dancer. You used to dance all through high school, and when you got to college, you’re focusing on your academics. Now you can redo your dance. It’s amazing.’

Kairys, a junior physical education major, said she plans to declare the dance minor. She started to dance in kindergarten for fun at low-key studios in Geneva, N.Y. She danced up through her senior year of high school but stopped when she got to college. When she found out last year that the dance minor might be a possibility, she started classes again.

‘I definitely think there’s a lot of people, like me, who used to dance,’ she said. ‘And once you come to college, it’s so competitive to be on the dance team or DanceWorks or something. And you give up, and you don’t have enough time or commitment. But if you can minor in it and actually focus on it, then you can dance again, which is what I love about it.’

So far she’s taken jazz, choreography, motor development and two anatomy courses. Kairys said she hopes a dance minor will make her more marketable when competing for physical education jobs.

Williams, a senior English and textual studies major, will now graduate with minors in theater and dance. She started setting up for a dance minor when she heard about the possibility her sophomore year.

She attended a middle school for the arts in the Bronx, where she auditioned and got in for vocal. But the school made its students try each art form before they decided on one to study, so she had to take a quarter of dance.

‘I didn’t like it because I had a Russian-style teacher. She smacked my legs with rulers when I got it wrong. And that’s why I never wanted to do ballet. I said, ‘Dancing is not for me.’ And I stuck with vocal,’ Williams laughed.

After that quarter in middle school, she did not dance again until a ballet course her sophomore year at SU. She said she thinks she will enjoy the minor because it makes students explore other types of dance, not just the forms in their comfort zones. To Williams, it’s about expression.

‘I can see myself progress over time. And it’s more about me practicing and not worrying about what everyone else is doing. It’s focusing on me getting better,’ she said. ‘In acting, you always want to be the better actor. And in dance, it’s not like that. You want to be the best dancer you can be. And that’s the difference.’

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Published on December 8, 2010 at 12:00 pm