Schoolin’ Life

Alex Christmas decided to bring 4 women, including herself, together to talk about their experiences as graduate students at The International Association of Blacks in Dance Conference 2019.

Davianna (1st year MFA at OSU), Jade Charon (recent MFA graduate from UCLA), Alex Christmas (1st year PhD at OSU), and myself under the theme inspired by Beyoncé, expressed our love and passion for our field and how we navigate the waters of graduate school.

Just like the field of dance, there are is a very small number of black women in dance, and even smaller for those attending graduate school. In my personal journey, I came in as the only one in my program. Isolation was real. Even though I had 2 faculty mentors available, when it came to interacting with my peers I was an adjustment. I was lucky to have 5 wonderful women join me in my final year (2 students, 3 Faculty).

Some take aways from our panel

  1. Graduate School is possible
  2. Race and Identity will always play a part in your experience, use it to your advantage
  3. Your voice matters

For more information, or to get in contact with these lovely individuals, check out their information below.