Finding Your Wolfpack: Music and Dance

There’s something about performing with a group of people that often causes fast and lasting friendships to form. Students who experience those friendships in high school often know exactly where to look for friends when they arrive on campus — the Department of Performing Arts and Technology (DPAT). 

You won’t find music or dance performance majors at NC State, but that comes with a surprising upside — the arts are unusually accessible here. Any student in any major is welcome to join a music ensemble or dance company — or a performance-based student organization. 

“We like to pride ourselves on being as accessible as possible, and being open for everyone who has an interest,” said Stuart Benkert, head of the department. “And to do that with a production value that is as high as possible, as well.

“It’s interesting, because the musicianship here is as good as it is at other universities, and the artistry here is as good … It allows students to experience the same collegiate level activities without making that their focus.”

“What’s great about NC State is you can be a great engineer and also in a great dance ensemble.”

The department’s more than 20 music ensembles and dance companies are courses that can be taken as electives or as part of a music or dance minor. It’s one of the only places on campus where you’ll find students repeating a class — that they don’t need in order to graduate — every single semester and, sometimes, into graduate school.

“Everyone who’s doing this is doing it because they want to, and not because they have to fill some major requirements,” said Emmie Cumby, a junior majoring in business administration with a concentration in human resources. “You choose to do it, and you’re there because you want to have fun with your friends.”

Music and Dance in the Classroom

Students of any major who want to keep learning and growing as musicians or dancers can take elective ensemble courses through DPAT, which include dance companies, choirs, orchestras, concert bands, jazz bands and combos, chamber music ensembles, athletic bands and beginner band. 

“What’s great about NC State is you can be a great engineer and also in a great dance ensemble,” Benkert said. “And you can be a computer scientist and also have an awesome theater experience, or be in an awesome orchestra, or you can also be in a really fun marching band that is well-known and serves the community and has a lot of high energy.”

He noted that music and dance faculty can often accommodate schedule conflicts with students’ required courses, so they can participate in music alongside their major. “One of the things that’s really special about us is our ability to work around, to accept the fact that the students are here for other things and build that into their experience, because it’s valuable for the students.”

Cumby plays the clarinet in the wind ensemble, marching band and pep band, and says that her band director, Paul Garcia, is one of the most meaningful connections she’s made during her time at NC State. She sees him multiple days a week, every semester, so she’s been able to build a stronger relationship with him than with most of her professors.

“He’s been a huge influence on my experience,” she said. “He takes time to get to know each of his students on an individual level and know what’s going on in their lives: knowing what they’re doing, knowing where they want to go. It’s been really nice to know I have somebody on campus who’s a trusted adult who I could go to if something were happening.”

Annabelle Sharp is a junior majoring in fashion and textile management with a concentration in brand management and marketing. Her experiences as a dance minor and a performer in the Terrain dance company, which performs site-based works that utilize the environment to inform the movement, have exposed her to new styles of dance while helping her learn more about herself.

“I feel like dance really set me in stone with who I am as a person,” she said. “And it’s always been like that. But in college, I feel like it really solidified who I want to be, and how I want to be perceived.”

Student-driven Performance

Sharp is also involved in a student organization called Studio 804, which is primarily a ballet company that also incorporates other dance styles. She learned about the group while attending a master class, offered by DPAT, during her first semester on campus. She met her three best friends in the group, including a fellow native of Pennsylvania. 

“I feel like you make connections with people that you can’t get outside of dance,” she said. “I don’t know how to describe it, but I feel like every dance friend that I’ve had, we’re just so, so close. And it’s hard to develop that with a friend that I’m not dancing with.”

There are student organizations for virtually every style of dance at NC State, including clogging, ballroom and K-Pop. And there are also music organizations, like the five a cappella groups and All Music People, a group that gets together weekly for informal jam sessions. 

These student organizations provide leadership opportunities and creative outlets for musicians and dancers looking to produce their own performances. The students in Studio 804, for example, choreograph their own dances, and the a cappella groups often compose their own music arrangements.

“There are so many different opportunities here to find a group and just join, and you probably will meet your best friends.”

“Being in a leadership role helps me develop relationships with people that I wouldn’t normally develop if I was just watching it all go by,” said Sharp, who serves as the vice president of Studio 804. “I can really just dig my feet in and get things done and make a difference.”

The clubs also provide opportunities to explore styles and topics that may not be taught regularly as classes. And students can access support to start new organizations if the one they’re looking for doesn’t exist yet.

“There are so many different opportunities here to find a group and just join, and you probably will meet your best friends,” said Sharp. “It’ll take up a lot of your time, but it’ll be worth it.”

A Community of Performing Student-artists

Musicians and dancers can quickly discover an engaged community of people who share their passions. The social aspects of music and dance contribute to both well-being and student success. 

It’s the best thing that you can do for yourself while you’re here.”

“You’re around people who love the things that you love — and that’s not what it’s all about, because you should also choose to be around people who are different from you and have different experiences. But it does create a foundation from which students can explore other areas of themselves,” Benkert said. “They can get here, and they can build off of the things they already know and love to provide a sense of belonging and a sense of success. And that gives them the emotional space or the courage to go off and maybe try something different as well.”

One of the most impactful relationships that Cumby has formed at NC State came about because she likes to spend time sitting and studying in Price Music Center. Sharing tables led her to meet and regularly connect with a pianist in the jazz ensemble, Elaine Wolochuk. When Cumby was having doubts about her chosen major, Wolochuk shared her experience as a business major and introduced her to new options. 

“She talked to me about some of the business classes and some of her professors and things that she had done, and that helped me go into the HR major that I’m in now, that I love,” said Cumby.

“There’s not really another way to get as connected with people in different majors. I know people in aerospace engineering, and I’m a business major. We wouldn’t really interact otherwise. So you sort of get a more complete college experience, because you have so many more people in your network that you can talk to and lean on and learn from.”

Cumby added that when it gets hard to carve out time for yourself in college, your ensemble gives you a dedicated time and place where you can let go of pressure or stress, be with people who love doing what you love doing, and create something beautiful together. 

“It’s the best thing that you can do for yourself while you’re here,” she said. “We’re here to further our education and get our degrees and stuff. But you also want to enjoy your time here, and I think this is a really great way to do that.”

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