Alumna Lucy Van Cleef '21 is featured in POINTE magazine! Her article, My 12-Year Journey to a Bachelor’s Degree While Dancing Professionally,  shares her dance and college degree journey, and how she landed in our Liberal Education for Arts Professionals (LEAP) Program.

​

Van Cleef was a professional dancer with the Los Angeles Ballet, living the dancer's dream, working hard in the studio and performing live onstage.

 

​

Van Cleef shared, "After fulfilling that dream, I still considered life after dancing as some abstract future reality. Rationally, I knew that a dancer's stage career ended eventually—that there was bound to be a moment of 'What next?' I guess it was that question that drew me to the meeting, and to joining the LEAP Program the following fall."

​

Alumna Lucy Van Cleef '21 is featured in POINTE magazine! Her article, My 12-Year Journey to a Bachelor’s Degree While Dancing Professionally,  shares her dance and college degree journey, and how she landed in our Liberal Education for Arts Professionals (LEAP) Program.

​

Van Cleef was a professional dancer with the Los Angeles Ballet, living the dancer's dream, working hard in the studio and performing live onstage. Van Cleef shared, "After fulfilling that dream, I still considered life after dancing as some abstract future reality. Rationally, I knew that a dancer's stage career ended eventually—that there was bound to be a moment of 'What next?' I guess it was that question that drew me to the meeting, and to joining the LEAP Program the following fall."

​

The LEAP Program is specifically designed to deliver a comprehensive liberal arts education to professional dancers and performing artists from around the country, with the goal of completing a BA in Performing Arts through part-time study.

​

For her very first class, Van Cleef took Writing for the Major, along with professional dancers from all stages of life. And later in the program, she had the chance to study abroad. "In the summer of 2011, I participated in a study-abroad program, traveling to Cape Town, South Africa, with six other dancers to teach at a two-week dance program—an adventure I'll never forget."

"My course requirements encouraged me to articulate my love of dancing in a way that more people could understand—an ability that paved the way for the next stage of my career as a dance writer, said Van Cleef, who has contributed to POINTE magazine, Dance Magazine, Playbill, and Dance Europe!

​

Van Cleef wrote, "I received my diploma in the mail in April of this year. It came just in time for me to submit my application to graduate school, where I'll be studying dance history. It might have taken 12 years, but the chapter was finally completed—thanks to the tireless support from three advisors: Mark Baird, Annie Colbeck, and Andrew Pearson."

As for what's next? "I'll be continuing my work as a freelance writer and translator. I'll also be enrolling in graduate school in the fall to pursue a PhD in Dance History."

​​