Michelle Russ Dances Her Way to the Pacific

Dance Major, Michelle Russ

Slippery Rock University freshman dance major, Michelle Russ has been taking dance lessons for years and found that she had a passion for all types of dance. This past year her passion is taking her on an adventure that most would kill for. Russ is attending the University of Hawaii, at Manoa for three weeks to learn cultural dances and participate in a local festival, and also by participating she receives seven credits towards her schooling. The University awards two in state scholarships and two out of state scholarships for the rest of the United States. After a long application process, Russ was awarded one of the out of state scholarships, allowing her to have an easier time financially. Slippery Rock is sending five dance majors to Hawaii this Summer, including Russ.

Michelle Russ when she was on point
when doing ballet.

Michelle started taking dance lessons at the age of three years old because her sister begged her mom to include
Michelle in the lessons. When Michelle got older she was not only involved in dance, but soccer and softball, but once it became to hectic she had to choose and decided to quite the other two sports and only focus on dance. In her dance career Michelle has learned how to do ballet, tap, jazz, modern, hip-hop, and many other genres of dance. While she is a well rounded dancer she still hopes to learn more while attending Slippery Rock and by participating in programs like this upcoming Hawaii trip. She hopes that she can learn more cultural dances and even some ballroom dancing.

When she was applying for colleges her dream school was New York University, she loved the dance department and loved the school, and she even got accepted into the University, but unfortunately she could not attend due to financial reasons. In the end she was deciding between two schools, Drexel University and Slippery Rock University. She did not know which school she was attending until the night before she had to make the decision, and decided to follow her sister and attend SRU. While she loves to dance and perform after she graduates she is interested in either becoming a choreographer or work with the technology/technical part of dance.

Michelle Russ performs with fellow dancers in a more
contemporary piece put on by the studio.

Today Michelle Russ is getting ready to head to the University of Hawaii and hopes to learn more about dance, especially the cultural dances of Hawaii. This past year she even learned a Hawaiian dance, by Michael Pili Pang, that involved moving her hips and using a Hawaii instrument. 





Michelle Russ describes her experiences with dancing at such a young age, from hardships and injuries to finding her passion.

 

Michelle describes some of her favorite dance styles and styles that she hopes to learn throughout her dancing career.




Michelle describes the steps that she took to get accepted into the University of Hawaii summer dance program, and how she got the one of two dance scholarships to the program.




Michelle and four other girls perform a traditional Hawaiian hula taught by Michael Pili Pang. This type of cultural dance is an example of what Michelle hopes to learn while in Hawaii.




Melissa Teodoro is a dance professor at Slippery Rock University and she helped the students going to Hawaii apply and ultimately be accepted into the program. She explains what the program entails and what she hopes the girls, specifically Michelle, get out of the experience.

The dancers get ready to perform a traditional Hawaiian Hula for the Introduction to Dance class.