- molly
- Dec 14, 2018
- 3 min read
Ursula Payne, the chairperson of the Department of Dance at Slippery Rock University, is an extraordinary role model to all dancers and students alike. This interview just scratches the surface of all that Ursula Payne has accomplished and all of the students she has positively impacted.
Katie Kulasa on the personal impact that Ursula Payne has on students:
Ursula's first job ever was waitressing at Friendly's during the summer of getting her undergraduate degree in Dance at Slippery Rock University. Her parents told her she "still had time to get another job," so she worked the night shift at a plastics plant on top of waitressing.
Ursula said that having this job taught her a good lesson - that these were the jobs her hometown had to offer her - and motivated her even further to obtain her education and pursue her field. After this, she decided to get a job at the University while taking summer classes.
Once Ursula graduated with her BA in Dance, she went straight into achieving her Masters of Fine Arts Degree in Dance from Ohio State University. There, she focused on performance and reconstruction from Laban Notation Score. "...but really, I took every class they offered in that department," Ursula said, laughing.
It was at Ohio State that Ursula met Tiffany Mills, the woman who Ursula formed the company, "Mills and Payne Dance" with.
"Mills and Payne Dance" performed at multiple venues, primarily in New York City, where Ursula based her professional career after graduating. One of their performances included "Fresh Tracks" by the very revered Dance Theater Workshop, which is now known as New York Dance Live Arts. This was her first professional "highlight," with the company being seen in the dance community and receiving reviews. They made a place for themselves in the dance world and also performed at the Lincoln Center in 1997.
Ursula Payne, describing a moment of adversity in her career.
The example from the video above led her into being a very independent woman. She also has held a strong, successful solo dance career.
Ursula Payne says that "being able to make strong solo work for yourself is how you're going to get seen." This is one of the thoughts Payne kept in mind while creating SRU's LMA class (Laban Movement Analysis). While performing in New York with Mills and Payne Dance, she was studying at the Laban/Bartenieff Institute of Movement Studies, a 2-year intensive specializing in Laban Movement Analysis, Bartenieff Fundamentals and Motif Writing and became a Certified Movement Analysis.
It was during that certification that she was asked to replace a professor of dance at Slippery Rock University while they were on sabbatical. She then became an Assistant Professor of Dance, Professor of Dance, and then the Chairperson of the Department of Dance.
Ursula's Career Highlight:
Ursula mentions traveling, something she has done a lot of over the years of her professional career. Here are just some of the places she has visited professionally:
If you can't see the StoryMap, check it out here
On top of her international travels, she has professionally worked in 27 US states.
It doesn't stop there: on top of the above mentioned, Payne also studied at a 2-week intensive seminar for mid-level administrators in higher education at Harvard Graduate School of Education. She is currently back in Graduate school at Indiana University of Pennsylvania studying Communication Media and Instructional Technology taking courses toward a doctorate degree.
Listen to Ursula talk about her life currently:
We know Ursula Payne as a professor of dance and the chairperson of our department of dance. However, there's a lot more to unravel in her successful professional career - this isn't even half of it. It is easy to be inspired by a woman who has achieved so much and continues to strive for more.
