Apr 5, 2002 2 min read

Amanda O’Brien of Uniontown, who is pursuing a dance degree at Slippery Rock University, recently participated in the university’s dance theater winter concert. For the past year and a half, O’Brien has been pursuing a dance degree in the Dance Department at Slippery Rock University. She began her dance training at the Ginny Tanner Dance Studio in Uniontown. At the Ginny Tanner Dance Studio, O’Brien studied all forms of dance for 10 years.

When the time came for O’Brien to choose where to go to college, she said the decision was easy. She had traveled back and forth to Slippery Rock University to see her sister Heather perform in the Slippery Rock University dance program. Now that Amanda is studying at her sister’s alma mater, she is able to learn from several of the same teachers that formed her sister’s training.

As a student at Slippery Rock, Amanda has explored many aspects of dance. She had always been exposed to modern dance but this is the first time that she is actually studying the genre. One of the dance department’s biggest projects is the annual Slippery Rock University Dance Theatre winter concert. This year’s concert ran from Jan. 31 through Feb. 2. Last year, she experienced the concert from behind the scenes by working on the stage crew. This year, she performed in two student works and one faculty piece. She has been able to see how students and professors work to create pieces. The process was long but well worth the work, according to O’Brien. She said dancing in the concert was exciting for her. O’Brien has also performed in the 2000-01 fall concerts, the 2001 Senior Synthesis Concert and the 2001 Faculty and Guest Artist Concert. She has also just completed a week-long run of the musical “Hair,” which ran from March 7-13. “Hair” was a collaboration of the theater, music and dance departments of Slippery Rock University. After her graduation, O’Brien said she would like to pursue a master’s degree in dance and continue performing.