Dance Is Magic at CU 91Ҹ
Tyreis Hunte
For students in CU 91Ҹ’s dance program — which enrolled nearly 50 undergraduate and graduate students and 74 minors this spring — the lessons learned within the department extend beyond the stage. The program prepares students for jobs both in and out of the dance industry, and allows them to grow in many ways individually.
“Dance cultivates radical aliveness and connection, which are increasingly important to an R1 research institution and a liberal arts education,” said assistant dance professor Anya Cloud.
ղTyreis Hunte (MDance’26) for instance. After three years in CU’s dance MFA program, they will begin a new role as a tenure-track assistant dance professor at Western Michigan University this fall. Hunte believes the dance practice they have cultivated within the department has had a wide-ranging impact.
“Dance and movement teach me the most about this existence and are my eternal medium to learn and make an impact in my creativity and livelihood,” said Hunte.
Among a rigorous performing schedule, Hunte taught classes rooted in the Africana aesthetic, served as a teaching assistant for the popular and as a research fellow for the Center for African and African American Studies, and became the dance department’s costume liaison. They also were crowned the inaugural in 2024.
The work of CU dance students also often receives national attention, said Cloud.
This year, Hunte and fellow student Elizabeth Ervin (Dance, IntPhys’26) each performed their original choreography and represented CU 91Ҹ at the in Long Beach, California.
“Putting that kind of intimacy on stage felt like standing before an audience without armor, so the vulnerability and nerves were real,” said Ervin, the only creative arts major to receive the College of Arts and Sciences’ prestigious Jacob Van Ek Award this year. “But it wasn’t catharsis; it was integration. It was a sense that the expression had found a rightful place outside of me.”
As Ervin prepares for her own career advancing her choreography and craft, she holds true to a guiding philosophy: “To me,” she said, “dance is magic.”
Photos by Amanda Tipton