Hodges Dances Through Life

By Cybill Shaffer

Many little girls dream of being a dancer when they grow up but must let go of that dream as years pass. Shiloh Hodges lives her dream every day of her life as a dance major.

There was a point in time where almost every young girl had a pair of those bright pink satin ballet shoes, and there were a handful of boys that had a few pairs of tights stashed in their closets.

For Shiloh that began at age four. Unlike most children who are fickle-minded in their interests and waiver in commitment, Shiloh knew by age fifteen that she wanted to dance for the rest of her life.

There is a lot of difficulty in choosing schooling for dance, as there is the option of an art school or public school and then the labored process of exploring the endless pros and cons of each of those, but Shiloh said FSU was a “natural choice.”

“(They) have a well-rounded program with amazing faculty,” Shiloh said. “Part of the reason I chose FSU is because it lets me take other classes, and I would like a double major as a backup plan.”

She and the rest of her fellow students understand the economic crunch Americans are facing, and she informs me that she is, by far, not the only person who is double majoring. Many other students choose Business and English as second majors. Though she sees the concern and unlikelihood of not having a guaranteed job after graduation, she assures me that,
“I’m not dancing for the money, just for the joy of it. If I graduate from college and for some reason can’t find a job anywhere, all the time I have spent dancing will still have been worth it.”

This means quite a bit, as the time she “spent dancing” is quite intense. She informs me that majors in the School of Dance take at least two technique classes: one ballet and one contemporary a day, each four days a week. They can also take Gyro kinesis, Pilates or Pointe.

In addition to this, she is a member of the Tallahassee Ballet, which has at least two ballets a year. With rehearsals included, she said, she dances more than 20 hours a week.

Along with the frequent physical demand, there is a mental dance overload. All of her classes this year are dance-related except German. She is enrolled in classes such as world dance history, music and choreography, and a technology class that surveys the fields of graphics, audio and video as it relates to dance.

Many college students face the challenge of staying in shape, but Shiloh said this isn’t really a problem for her. She stressed the importance of eating right and sleeping enough, however, as her 18-credit-hour course load can be quite demanding on her body and energy.

After college Shiloh wants to move to a large city in the US or abroad and dance in a company. “Dancers don’t build bridges or cure cancer,” she said, “but they still explore the limits, which is both a crazy and difficult thing to do and also very wonderful.”