Academic Major: Dance
Academic STATUS: Graduate
Graduation Year: 2011
HomeTOWN: Ghana, West Africa
Brockport has had a good relationship with the University of Ghana. Looking for a good school with a good dance program, I did a little research and came to understand that Brockport offers good dance programs [compared to other] schools in the United States.
Getting the opportunity to perform on and off campus, and to work with different dance choreographers.
Well, coming from a totally different world of dance technique, classes for me were very different and uncomfortable at the beginning. I felt like I was the only strange guy in the class. Now, I have come a long way [but am] still in the learning process (with the immense help of the professors I encounter in each class and the students) of adjusting my body into the specific class technique. It also feels good to experience the transformation. I have enjoyed every single class I have enrolled in because I have learned a lot from the teachings and the students. I have also enjoyed performing and working with different choreographers in the department. These experiences have broadened my scope of ideas and opened it to new discoveries.
Course programs here are more organized and structured and one gets to know what the semester is all about right at the beginning of the semester. Students study more for tests and exams back home and the syllabus for a semester is a lot more complicated and intense. Because of the increased number of students in each class back home, the success of the student has to be a lot of extra hard work.
Yes, with International Student Organization, where I get to meet new international students from different countries every semester. I am also in the Student Dance Organization and Sankofa African Dance and Drum Company, where I get to perform on campus at events and at high schools and colleges [in the area].
I lived on campus for the first semester I came to Brockport, and it was a great experience exchanging cultural life and making friends with students from Bulgaria, Ukraine, England, Australia, Japan, China, Jamaica, Nigeria, Vietnam, Ethiopia, and Russia. I learned a lot from my roommate, who was from Japan. Currently I live off campus and it is still a great experience.
Warm jackets, articles and useful books.
Adjusting to the weather and the food.
My family, food, good friends, loved ones and some festival celebrations and holidays of my country that I don't usually miss when I am back home.
It is a wonderful place to study and acquire a degree. Professors here push you to your limit and beyond to find what you are looking for, but they also have enough time for each student in class to personally assess his/her performance. Be brave, there is nothing to be scared of; wonderful people are around to help you go about whatever you might find yourself confused about. Note also that you cannot achieve everything on first try, there will surely be errors, but do your best to aim high and plan ahead so there is more room for error and improvement.
I am looking forward in studying for my PhD and then exploring my ideas and experiences by teaching in any college with a dance program, or any School of Art. I also have a developing idea of getting my own Dance Company to tour with works of Contemporary African dance forms infused with Modern dance.
Collaborative Training Dinner
5 pm - 7 pm
Faculty Staff Convocation
8:30 am - 10:30 am
Collaborative Training
1 pm - 5:30 pm
Red Cross Blood Drive
11 am - 4 pm
