Utah Tech University Students Study Abroad in Florence, Italy

For some students, the grind doesn’t stop once summer hits. Six dance students and a photography student from Utah Tech University spent three weeks in Florence, Italy, this summer as a part of Utah Tech’s Florence Dance Study Abroad Program.

While the program’s focus this year centered around dance film, the students also spent every day from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. taking technique classes in subjects like contemporary jazz, funk, and modern dance.

Jenny Mair, Utah Tech’s faculty leader for this study abroad program, participated in the Florence Summer Dance experience as a graduate student in 2014. When Mair began teaching at Utah Tech University, she had the opportunity to teach at a workshop in Italy where she became close with Liliana Candotti, the program director for the Florence Summer Dance program. Eventually, this led to the establishment of the Florence Study Abroad Program at Utah Tech University.

“It’s hard to explain how something touches your life, but for me, when I went as a student, this changed my life as an artist and as a human,” Mair said. “That’s why I connected it with these students, because it impacts your life in a positive way.”

This is now the fourth year Utah Tech students have been able to participate in this opportunity.

Utah Tech’s students modeled the University’s “active learning. active life.” approach to education in Italy, spending at least six hours a day dancing, learning, and observing dancers and instructors from cultures all over the world.

The students applied everything they learned by choreographing a one-minute solo and also filming themselves and editing their own film.

The students also had time to explore the museums and historical sites of Italy and spent some days in Venice, Pisa, and the Tuscan coast.

The Florence Dance Study Abroad Program is available to all student dancers at Utah Tech, regardless of major. Auditions are held each fall, and the course can be taken for credit.