Heather Larsen Shaw, T'97, Arts Administrator, NYC

 "The dance faculty became a family to me. They knew me better than any one and that came from spending time in the room together, using our bodies. Being physical and connected in that way taught me how to connect with people in a way that many people like but missed out on. In the corporate world they spend years trying to teach employees to think outside of the box. Send those people to a dance class! Not a day goes by where I do not use what I learned in one of my dance classes. Even when I am not dancing I am using something I learned in dance: I am unafraid to speak, to put it down on paper, to express myself, to verbalize ideas, even when I was an assistant and was speaking to the CEO. I went on to pursue my MA in dance because I could not think of any thing I wanted to develop more. It was the smartest and best thing I ever could have done with my life."