Aleksander Tecza
MFA in Dance, 2025
Share a little about why you chose the U of I College of Fine & Applied Arts for your graduate degree.
I have connections to the University of Illinois dating back to early 1990s, when I first graduated from Urbana High School, and later from the U of I with a degree in microbiology. Before I ended up in microbiology, however, I actually started out as a dance major in this very Department of Dance. Even though I switched majors after a couple of years, I stayed closely connected to the department, even after graduation. I was occasionally asked to give master classes and workshops here in ballroom dancing, when I was at the height of my competitive career. I always thought of the U of I as my second home, and I wanted to return here and teach. The MFA gives me the opportunity to apply for teaching positions within academia.
What has been a highlight of your grad school experience so far?
Experience-wise, the opportunity to engage in the interdisciplinary work bridging the worlds of dance and science as well as my continuous collaboration with the Lyric Theatre at Illinois have been major highlights of my grad school journey. I met and worked with extraordinary professors from physics, theatre, and music. If I were to choose one specific highlight, it would be my choreographic work on the opera Black Square, working alongside Dr. Nathan Gunn, who personally asked me to help him with coordinating the movement sequences of the production.
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Share a little about a special project you have worked on.
My thesis project “Entangled, or Adventures of Time Traveler in the Quantum World” is a synthesis of my dance and scientific interests into one piece, combining the research on partnering techniques of ballroom dancing and particle interactions in the quantum world. This piece gave me (as both a dancer/choreographer and a scientist) a springboard for future collaborations, bridging the worlds of arts and sciences.
How do you hope your graduate degree will impact your career?
After thirty some years of a professional ballroom dance career I hope to share my extensive knowledge and expertise with the students here at the university if such opportunities present themselves. That would be a lovely addition to my private teaching practice of ballroom dance I have maintained for many years.
What is your favorite space on campus and why?
Krannert Center’s lobby area by Intermezzo. I pretty much spend all my time there between classes, have meetings, eat lunch, drink coffee, etc. You can find me there so often that Mike Ross, the director of Krannert Center, jokes that Krannert lobby is my unofficial office.
What advice would you give students interested in attending your grad program?
Before coming here I was told that this program would consume almost all my time. I found that it was not so. While being enrolled here, I was able to maintain (and even grow) my private teaching practice both in Chicago and here, as well as pursue my scientific interests in other departments. They ultimately led to my interdisciplinary thesis project. So, the advice I would give the incoming students is to stay curious, and feed that curiosity and interests by taking advantage of all the opportunities that this program provides. The professors here are very accommodating and encouraging.
