The dance department moved forward this year in growth by hiring former student Kristen Norwood as a full time second dance teacher. About half of the dancers taking dance this semester would not be able to if it were not for this growth.
“I feel [hiring another teacher] was absolutely necessary to keep our school growing and keep our school expanding and being a school that welcomes anyone and everyone,” dance teacher Leah Smith said. “If we had not hired a second teacher, the amount of students that were able to take the classes would be very limited.”
When Smith first started teaching at Northwood, she had a class of eight students. They were in the old dance room and Dance I was not a part of the concerts at the end of each semester.
“Lots of stuff has changed, just from the simple structure of the way I hold concerts, to the way I hold class, to the amount of students that are enrolled,” Smith said. “Going from a semester where I had 45-50 students, to now a semester where I have 137 is huge.”
Smith believes this growth has also made the department “bigger and stronger.” Now that so many students are able to take dance, she feels technique and intensity can improve within the program.
“I think [adding another teacher] definitely helped in the fact that we’ve been able to allow all students who wanted to take dance to take dance,” Norwood said. “It has just doubled the amount of classes that we offer and it’s just really awesome.”
If it were not for Norwood, there would not be an additional Dance I and two Dance II classes added to Smith’s Ensemble, Dance III and Dance I classes.
“I’m glad I got the opportunity to be in her class, because without her, I wouldn’t be in Dance I and I wouldn’t be able to progress in my dance career at Northwood,” said sophomore Emma Hollar who is in Dance I with Norwood.
Northwood is the only school in Chatham County with a dance department and one of the only public schools in North Carolina with two full-time dance teachers. Because of this, Smith nominated Northwood as a “Cool School” on NBC 17. Smith, Norwood, Dance Ensemble and various dance students appeared on air 5 a.m. to 7 a.m. Nov. 14.
“I just thought it was a great thing to really get the awareness out that there is dance in a high school,” Smith said. “So many people out there don’t understand that dance is a legitimate class in a high school setting.”
Smith believes that as the community keeps growing, so can the dance department and there is “potential” for additional teachers eventually. She says that this growth has helped the school and students.
“There’s a lot of happy dancers walking around now,” Smith said. “I think [this growth] just really helps our school to commit to our mission statement, one of which is the arts. Now so much of the school’s population is involved in an arts class.”
–By Tori Nothnagel