Vienna Wong at The Dance Centre

We love reading accounts of our student's internships, which are not only useful experiences, but also a practical way to earn credits towards your degree. Here's a recent one from fourth year dance major, Vienna Wong, about her internship at The Dance Centre, who published this on their blog:

This Fall, I have had the opportunity to intern with The Dance Centre as Dance Outreach Coordinator. As a 4th year Dance Major at Simon Fraser University, a question I am frequently asked is, “what are your plans when you graduate?” The truth is, I have no idea. With the intent of graduating in the upcoming year, I decided the best way to find my path would be to explore all my options. My plan was to learn a little bit about everything and get some experience in fields that I found interesting. This internship at The Dance Centre has not only taught me a range of valuable skills but has also helped me discover new things about myself and interests I might want to pursue in the future. 

The Dance Centre internship has supported my growth and development in variety of skills. I learned about administration, marketing and even a little bit of event planning. My tasks involved compiling data, posting listings, creating flyers, organizing the video library and more. Additional projects included organizing a coffee gathering for the tenants of The Dance Centre. This called for some email correspondence, scheduling, budgeting and setting up the event at The Dance Centre. Another project I assisted on was organizing The Dance Centre’s member Christmas party. This included putting together a call for dancers, gathering information and scheduling four pop-up performances for this event. All of the knowledge that I have gained from my time here has been so useful and relevant as I know that I will be able to apply so much of it to my own practice. While there is no certainty of what specific dance path I want to take, this experience has showed me new avenues of interest within the dance community. The Dance Centre has been significant in developing my interests by fueling my inspiration from the projects I’ve worked on and learning about the diverse artists in this community. It has helped me feel more prepared if I later choose to start my own company, dance professionally or work in an office like The Dance Centre.

While I have always known about the resources that The Dance Centre provides, I didn’t know the depth of really how useful the information can be for artists until I was immersed into the organization. The value of the resources from the audition opportunities, workshops, upcoming shows and more are so important to have for students and artists. The greatest thing that I have taken from this experience is being able to meet so many new members of the dance community. This includes the Dance Centre staff who continue to inspire me with their passion. I am also so grateful to have had the opportunity to work with such an incredible team and I’m sure we’ll run into each other again soon!

Excellent work, Vienna. Find out more about internships through the SCA HERE.