As I was sitting in the Duke gardens, trying to conjure up something blog-worthy, I could not help but glance at my beautiful surroundings. Squirrels running to and fro, beautiful green grass, the sun peaking through the clouds, Duke students walking from class, dancers walking from class…whoa, wait a minute, you might ask how I can tell the difference between Dukies and Dancers. Well, I learned how to make this distinction easily by simply observing my environment at the Duke gardens.
Dress…
Layers, layers, and more layers. For some unknown reason, and I have definitely been guilty of doing this myself, dancers feel a need to layer no matter what the temperature. I witnessed a dancer wearing this-please remember it was about 85 degrees outside-leotard, long sleeve shirt, tank top over that, gauchos, and a sweatshirt. Let’s compare this to a group of Duke students wearing jeans and band t-shirts. Point made.
Hairstyles…
Modern dancers feel the need to let their hair down anytime rehearsals are not in session. The main difference, we are talking hair here, between ballet and modern dancers is the dreaded ‘ballet bun.” Ballet dancers slick hair back into this tiny ball on top of their head, creating bulging eyes and tight complexions. Modern dancers are much more ‘free” and during rehearsal can just clip back a few loose strands or let it in fall in their face. Duke students either funk-ify hair with wild colors or hair gel, or keep it very minimal.
The attitude…
American Dance festival dancers are free spirits and enjoying life as it comes. In between rehearsals and performances they are seen smiling and socializing with fellow dancers. I even witnessed an impromptu practice of dancers showing each other new dance steps. Duke students always seem to be on a mission, carrying their books and thick novels, scurrying off to who knows where.
The Dukies are dancin’ it off to class while the dancers are dukin’ it out on stage!
