Dean College Blog

 Jessica Pretty is a Senior Dance major at Dean College. She will be one of the student speakers at 2013 Dean College Commencement and her one night only-free to attend- show, The Infinites, will be on The Main Stage at Dean College Tuesday, May 7 at 8:00pm. The following was a blog written by Ms. Pretty.

Being a senior at Dean this past year has allowed me to set, prepare and accomplish my goals. I set out to do things that I didn’t think were possible, or were on a “Wish List” I had stored away. Yet, with the tools I have acquired from Dean, these goals turned from impossible, to possible over the course of this year. From setting out to apply to graduate school and getting accepted with one of the highest fellowships the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign could offer, to writing a speech late one night and ending up becoming the BA Commencement speaker. However great these goals are, one of my most accomplished goals at Dean however, is something that hasn’t even happened yet.

I got an idea in December during the Choreographer’s Concert auditions to produce my own show at Dean. I wanted to challenge myself, to do something different. I wanted to see if I could wear not only the hat of choreographer as I had done in the past, but to put on the hats of choreographer/director/costume designer/lighting designer/production manager/stage manager/producer. At the last minute, I pitched this idea to Joanie Palladino in the form of a senior dance internship and she said yes. Here I was getting ready to go off into the real world and choreograph and (hopefully) put on shows for the rest of my life, and I said, “why not challenge myself now?” I have the resources, I have the space, I have dancers….let’s give this a shot now.

Over winter break I did research on different dance history, reading books and scratching for new music to create this concept for this 30 minute piece I would create for my internship. I came across my Classic novels while at home and was instantly inspired by old mythology, more specifically Greek mythology. From there I created different stories and created text to go along with the story as I saw fit and this whole new world was created. I got back to Dean this semester and auditioned dancers, rehearsed almost every weekend this spring, created and obtained costumes, designed lighting (with the help of Jim Beau of course) and standing back now looking at everything before it is presented this Tuesday on the Main Stage, I am very pleased with myself and the work I was able to accomplish. So many people said to me; how did you get the idea of creating your own show? It’s such a bold step to take, especially to have it presented in the Main Stage…I say your goals are only as big as the steps you take to reach them. And having prepared for what’s next over the last four years, I learn to take bigger strides every day.

Jessica Pretty Senior Internship Show “The Infinites” is being presented at 8:00pm on Tuesday May, 7^th in the Main Stage at Dean College. There is no admission charge.