Zara Williams-Nicholas \u201819 is an international student from Jamaica, majoring in mathematics and dance at Swarthmore College. Williams-Nicholas started dancing when she was living in Jamaica, beginning ballet classes at the age of two. However, after moving to Massachusetts for high school, she was forced to stop taking dance classes due to financial obstacles.<\/p>\n
Williams-Nicholas did not initially consider majoring in dance since dance is not usually associated with economic stability. \u201cI was thinking I had to have a major that would help support me financially,\u201d Williams-Nicholas said. \u201cI chose math because the analysis of structures really interested me.\u201d<\/p>\n
Remarkably, it was mathematics that led Williams-Nicholas back to her interest in dance. \u201cIt was later on that I realized that the analysis of geometric and other structures could be applied to movement creation as well,\u201d Williams-Nicholas said.<\/p>\n
In her junior year, Williams-Nicholas took classes in improvisation and contemporary dance. Because of her experiences in those classes, she reconnected with dance and began identifying strongly as a dancer. \u201cI felt as if I had found dance styles that really resonated with me as an artist in contemporary dance class,\u201d Williams-Nicholas said. \u201cAs for improvisation, I began using dance as a framework for everyday life, exploring movement practices and creation even outside of class.<\/p>\n
Through dance, Williams-Nicholas has been able to challenge herself, especially since she had to complete most of the major in one year. \u201cI sometimes feel physically fatigued, but my love for what I do pushes me forward,\u201d Williams-Nicholas said.<\/p>\n
Furthermore, Williams-Nicholas uses dance as a conduit for self-love. \u201cIt is an art form that lets you communicate with the world in a way that I personally find very pleasing,\u201d Williams-Nicholas said. \u201cIt is also a process wherein you can really begin to love your body for what it can do, and where you can get out of the habit of disliking the look of your body.\u201d<\/p>\n
For Williams-Nicholas, dance is not just about mastering the technical aspects\u2014it is also about discovering how your body moves through space. \u201cYou become aware of small movements and tendencies in your body that you may not have been aware of beforehand,\u201d Williams-Nicholas said. \u201cYou can create movement that is unique to your body and that tells a story that you want to tell.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI have learned bodily awareness for myself and for others, and I have learned about the idea of consent while partnering or doing group work,\u201d Williams-Nicholas continued.<\/p>\n
Before coming to Swarthmore, Williams-Nicholas choreographed an original piece at her old school in Jamaica. She attributes that performance as one of the happiest times of her life. At Swarthmore, she has choreographed a piece in response to Thomas DeFrantz’s visit to her contemporary dance class. \u201cThe piece focused on blackness in dance and how that tends to be received,\u201d Williams-Nicholas said.<\/p>\n
Currently, Williams-Nicholas has many projects in progress. For the upcoming Fall Dance Concert, she is working on Professor Stephanie Liapis\u2019s modern dance piece and on Professor LaDeva Davis\u2019s tap dance piece. Additionally, Williams-Nicholas is a part of student dance group Terpsichore, working on a piece about her personal life, which she hopes to reflect through movement. She recently joined Rhythm and Motion, a tri-co student dance group, and is working on various pieces for that group, as well.<\/p>\n
After graduation, Williams-Nicholas hopes to continue dancing. \u201cI hope to use both my majors after graduation, doing some combination of problem-solving and movement for the rest of my life\u201d Williams-Nicholas said. \u201cI want to be financially stable, I want the ability to dance onstage and to choreograph, and I want to continue to develop my dance practice in a safe way so that I can dance for as long as possible.\u201d<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
David Chan \u201819<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Zara Williams-Nicholas \u201819 is an international student from Jamaica, majoring in mathematics and dance at Swarthmore College. Williams-Nicholas started dancing when she was living in Jamaica, beginning ballet classes at the age of two. However, after moving to Massachusetts for high school, she was forced to stop taking dance classes due to financial obstacles. Williams-Nicholas […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":25,"featured_media":7546,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.swarthmore.edu\/academics\/music-and-dance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7545"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.swarthmore.edu\/academics\/music-and-dance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.swarthmore.edu\/academics\/music-and-dance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.swarthmore.edu\/academics\/music-and-dance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/25"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.swarthmore.edu\/academics\/music-and-dance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=7545"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.swarthmore.edu\/academics\/music-and-dance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7545\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":7547,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.swarthmore.edu\/academics\/music-and-dance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7545\/revisions\/7547"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.swarthmore.edu\/academics\/music-and-dance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/7546"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.swarthmore.edu\/academics\/music-and-dance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=7545"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.swarthmore.edu\/academics\/music-and-dance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=7545"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.swarthmore.edu\/academics\/music-and-dance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=7545"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}