Faces of the CVPA: Ashley Dobrogosz '15

Ashley Dobrogosz is a dance major who is co-choreographing a piece in Informance 2013. Informance 2013 is being presented on Dec. 5 at 7:30 p.m. in the Albig Studio Theatre in Peters Hall. We asked Ashley a series of questions about dance, choreography and animals. The following are her answers:

1. What inspired you to pursue dance as your major?

A. I decided to pursue dance as my major because I knew I wouldn't be happy doing anything else. I've danced my whole life and it just made sense to continue with it, whether it was performing or teaching.

2. Did you always know that you wanted to study choreography?

A. No, choreography has always made me nervous (and it still kind of does). I feel more comfortable with it now, but it used to scare me to death! It's much easier for me to learn someone else's choreography and just go with that instead of creating my own and worrying if I'm doing it "right." When it's my own I think into it way too much and I'm always second-guessing myself.

3. What is your favorite thing about being a dance major?

A. Well besides getting to dance every day for class, I would probably have to say my favorite part is all the performing opportunities we get throughout the year. We have three bigger faculty choreographed shows each year and then in between those we have shows in our studio space. On top of that, I have also had the opportunity to perform with d a n a h b e l l a DanceWorks the past two years as well. So for someone who likes performing it's been a great fit.

4. What is your favorite thing about choreography?

A. Choreography can be a real rewarding/learning experience. Through the process of creating movement to rehearsing with your dancers you learn how your ideas can either be a complete flop or it can be everything you thought it would be or more. In the end just seeing the final product and seeing this piece you created from nothing is an incredible feeling.

5. How many performances and what type of performances were they?

A. I have been in about 12 shows here at Radford. Some of them were Fall Dance Fest and Dancing On The Edge, and others have been shows in the studio.

6. How does it feel to perform in front of a crowd of people?

A. Performing is probably my favorite thing about dance! I love the feeling that all the long rehearsals are over and it's finally time to enjoy being on stage. It's also a different energy being onstage in front of people rather then just having a mirror in front of you. It's very exciting!

7. What types of music do you prefer to dance to?

A. I don't really have a preference of music when I dance. I like a lot of different styles, so I'm pretty open to anything! Certain pieces I've performed in, the music isn’t related to the dancing at all, so in that case I barely notice it! When I choreograph, however, the music is a big part of my process. I obsess over whether my choice was the right one.

8. What are your plans for after you graduate?

A. Well I guess it's pretty standard to say I plan to audition for everything, but that's really my plan as of now. I just want to keep performing, hopefully with a modern company... anywhere! And then probably teach further down the road!

9. What inspired the theme of your piece with Shannon Comerford (co-choreographer)?

A. Our piece is set during WWll and it's about three women, all of whom have husbands in the war. It symbolizes how it would feel to wait to hear from your loved one and to only hear from them every so often through letters. We came up with this topic after hearing the piece of music. It's from the movie "Atonement" and within the song there's pieces of typewriter sounds. The typewriter is what got me interested in the music before we even knew what our piece would be about. It's not consistent throughout the music – sometimes it's short moments and sometimes it's 30 seconds long. It really sparked the idea and influences the choreography in our piece.

10. If you could be a any animal, what animal would you be?

A puppy! They're just so cute and cuddly. They have the simplest lives, their biggest concerns are napping and food. Plus puppies can make anyone happy and I like it when people are happy!