School of ballet, modern dance sees faculty shortage
Budget constraints force university to set priorities

By Kelly Marino
Staff Repoter

As each semester begins, the department of ballet and modern dance continues to expand performing and educational opportunities for students. But the department has not been able to expand the amount of faculty to work with the students.

Ellen Garrison, chairwoman of the ballet and modern dance department, said the department encounters 75 to 80 dance majors each semester but the faculty is limited to only five members.

“There is not enough faculty to serve the dance majors, so most of the faculty works overtime,” Garrison said. “If the department could receive additional faculty we would be able to split up the workloads.”

Elizabeth Gillaspy, a lecturer in ballet, said there is often a misperception of how much time actually goes into the creative work because so many people just see the final work.

“We are a small staff and work crazy hours, but we are able to deal with it because we have a passion for dance and we want to provide the best opportunity for students,” Gillaspy said. “The time involved with the students is really significant and the thing that is great is the teamwork and collaborative spirit involved within the department.”

Garrison said for almost 10 years the department of ballet and modern dance has submitted requests in hopes to acquire additional faculty. She said the last faculty member was added in 1999.

Each year the dance department submits forms to the chairwoman for more faculty members. From that point the request for faculty goes through the fine arts dean, then to the provost of the university, to the chancellor of the university and finally to the Board of Trustees.

William Koehler, vice chancellor of academic affairs, said that considering the request begins with a verification that the position is budgeted.

“Many of the department’s requests are denied primarily because of budget consideration,” Koehler said. “Academic departments that have a high service load and are dependent on part-time faculty get first consideration.”

Koehler said two main priorities when deciding which requests to consider are trying to reduce the dependency of part-time faculty and honoring the commitment made to certain programs by enhancing the department’s reputation.

“There are limited resources and we don’t have the funds to honor the recommendations of all departments,” he said.

The department of ballet and modern dance at TCU was the first university in the country to offer a fine arts degree in ballet. The program was later expanded to include the modern dance major. The department is well known for its performance programs, master classes and workshops.

Adrienne Calncy, artistic director of Calncy Works and a recent guest artist who visited TCU, said she was highly impressed with the relationship between the faculty and the students.

“The rapport between the faculty and the students is one of mutual respect,” Calncy said. “The faculty provides a high quality of training for students who have the ability to articulate ideas with dance and are generous performers.”

Garrison said even though the faculty experiences frustrating times they do not find themselves complaining.

“We want the best experience for our students so we don’t complain,” said Garrison. “We do our job and continue to work hard because we truly enjoy what we do.”

Kelly Marino
k.a.marino@student.tcu.edu