DANCE IN PARIS
2024
WHY DANCE IN PARIS
It is with immense pleasure that I share the tremendous success of Dance in Paris 2024. Students from the University of Alabama, the University of Houston, Missouri State University, and George Mason University joined our Florida State University, College of Fine Arts, School of Dance students. I am extremely proud that we could reach students at other institutions, as it raises our national visibility.
This year, the participants were treated to a rich and diverse program. They began with a lovely welcome dinner, saw performances by Ballet du Rhin, Kwame Asafo-Adjel, and Angelin Preljocaj, visited Musée D’Orsay, Centre du Pompidou, and Musée de la Cinémathèque, took two walking tours, a personalized tour of Palais Garnier, and enjoyed a celebratory closing dinner and burlesque show, in addition to their dance technique and dance film classes.
Each year I lead the Dance in Paris program, I am filled with gratitude for being asked to instruct students abroad in a manner that develops their artistic skills and broadens their international perspective of dance. When Anjali Austin our department chair passed me the baton, the program was run exclusively by the Program Leader, but I decided to augment the program by inviting Tiffany Rhynard to teach Dance Film as a course offering for the first time. Now that I have completed the second year as Program Leader, I have further clarified the vision for the Dance in Paris program.
As an alumna of FSU School of Dance, I am deeply impacted by the values and legacy of our founder, Dr. Nancy Smith Fichter, and have chosen to carry forward the ideals she instilled in our dance program. For this reason, I am shifting the course offerings for the 2025 season. I am pleased to welcome new faculty member Kara Wilkes to refocus the curriculum on performance and choreography. Kara will be teaching students how to craft choreography for film production, which will be an extension of the current offerings within the SoD choreographic curriculum. I am forever grateful for the contribution of faculty member Tiffany Rhynard whose Dance on Film class gave the students a way to explore storytelling through the camera.
I look forward to creating a life-changing experience for a new cohort of young dance artists. Stay tuned for more excellence, but for now, here’s another fabulous promotional video created by Tiffany highlighting the students’ experience of Paris.
​Kehinde Ishangi
Kehinde is privileged to serve as program director for the annual study abroad program—DANCE IN PARIS—Florida State University International Programs in collaboration with the School of Dance, College of Fine Arts.