The Nevada Sagebrush

This week, two dance programs open with University of Nevada, Reno students tapping, jazzing and dancing pointe in them. Both of these programs demand commitment, dedication and practice from the student dancers, but they differ in one way: One is on campus and the other is not.

On Thursday and Friday, UNR’s music and dance department hosts its annual Fall Dance Festival and on Saturday the Sierra Ballet Theatre Company performs in Tahoe.

For Shelly Guzman, dancing in the Sierra Ballet Theatre Company in her hometown of Gardnerville takes her away from the college experience on campus.

Guzman, a 21-year-old dietetics major at UNR, has been involved with the same dance company since she was in fifth grade.

“I just loved it so much, I didn’t want to give it up,” she said.

Guzman typically spends Monday through Friday concentrating on school. On Fridays, she does other things she has to take care of, like looking into internships in her major.

But at the start of the weekend, she makes the hour-and-fifteen-minute-drive home so she can be at dance by 10 a.m. Saturday.

Guzman drives the hour and fifteen minutes home on Friday night or Saturday morning. Saturday morning, she is up by 9 a.m., so she can be at dance by 10.

After dancing for five hours, Guzman drives back to Reno Saturday or wakes up and drives back on Sunday. Once in Reno, the day is spent doing homework.

In addition to the five-hour class, Guzman goes to the gym five times a week to keep her body in a condition to dance. When her class is learning new choreography, her teacher records it and Guzman watches the tape the next week to keep it fresh in her mind. Guzman said the discipline ballet demands is what she likes about it.

“It helps with concentration and focusing on a goal,” Guzman said. “Mostly it applies to school and when I’m trying to achieve something, I’m really dedicated to achieving that goal.”

The sort of discipline she learned through dancing spills into other areas of her life. She graduated high school valedictorian and said she still holds herself to that standard.

Guzman’s commitment with the dance company cost her a lot of the social side of college. Since she was a freshman, Guzman’s weekends were taken up with dance and her week with maintaining a 3.9 GPA.

“I do feel like because I’ve made such a commitment to dance, I missed out on a lot of the college experience,” she said. “Like meeting and forming lasting relationships with new people, just going to basketball games, some of the social things. I do miss out on a lot of those things.”

Guzman said she kept up with dance for so long because she benefited from it.

“I just always wanted to dance,” she said. “It’s a good form of exercise, a good outlet to express yourself. It’s almost like therapy. Sometimes, there’ll be softer dances about heartbreak and you can definitely draw on your own experiences for that. This year, we have a kind of angry dance and you can get your anger out. Instead of talking it out, dance it out.”

Although she doesn’t plan on dancing with the company next semester, so she has more time to focus on school and getting an internship, Guzman said she doesn’t regret any of it.

“I learned a lot about commitment and discipline,” she said. “I’ve learned things with the company that I don’t think I could have learned anywhere else. It helped me grow as a person.”

Alli Richardson, a 27-year-old international affairs major, has the opposite problem of Guzman. Dancing on campus takes her away from the social life in her hometown.

Richardson lives in Truckee, a 30- to forty-five minute drive from UNR. On most days, she wakes up between 6 a.m. and 7:30 a.m. to get on campus for her 9:30 class.

“I’m usually on campus for about 11 hours a day,” she said. “I’m in classes back-to-back, two require study groups and when I’m not in class, I’m doing homework or rehearsals.”

Richardson choreographed and dances in the Fall Dance Festival that begins on Thursday. To prepare for the program, Richardson practiced around 12 hours a week.

On Tuesdays, her busiest day of the week, Richardson is

• in class from 9:30 a.m. to 4 p.m.
• dance rehearsal from 4 to 5:30 p.m.
• practices the choreography she created from 5:30 to 6:15 p.m.

On Fridays, Richardson teaches a dance class to middle-schoolers from 6 to 7:15 p.m.

“I come home, hopefully eat some dinner and try to study if my brain isn’t too packed,” Richardson said. “I almost live in Reno more than I live in Truckee.”

Although Richardson said she’d be happy dancing all day, it takes its toll.

“The hardest thing is not being able to see people as much as I would like to, like my husband or my friends,” she said.

Richardson started dancing when she was eight years old. When she was 17, she was in an academy with dancers above her skill level. She got discouraged and quit dancing for two years.

Although she’s happy with her life now, Richardson said she regrets not following through on dance.

“I think if I could do it over again, I would have used my circumstances to work harder,” she said. “I would have followed through to pursue a professional career.”

Richardson, a dance minor, said part of the reason she took so many dance classes this semester was because she will graduate a year from now and didn’t want to bypass another opportunity.

“Sure, I get super tired and stressed out, but I know it’s temporary,” she said. “There are a lot of opportunities to explore choreography and dance at UNR. Since I have this opportunity, I want to take it.”

Richardson has a sister who dances in California and a mother and aunt who danced with a company when they were younger. Even though Richardson also sees dance being part of her life in the future, she’s taking a different avenue.

“I teach a class at Truckee now and I think that’s more where my interests will lie,” she said. “Making sure the girls who come in have the confidence to dance and continue with it.”

Richardson said she still dances because she likes the challenges it brings more than anything else.

“Just the challenge of learning something totally different that came from someone’s mind and mastering it,” she said. “It’s definitely a challenge and I like it.”