While the Dance Department may not be why most students choose Harvard, for Claudia F. Schreier ’08—recipient of the Office for the Arts’ Suzanne Farrell Dance Prize–dancing has been the most significant part of her undergraduate career. Although she began ballet as a toddler and has been choreographing since high school, Schreier believes that she has substantially developed both talents over the past four years.

Schreier admits that upon arriving at Harvard she was a “bun-head,” or a very traditional dancer, but says her time here has allowed her to develop a greater appreciation for modern dance. Her style of choreography has evolved as a result of this appreciation. Classical and modern are “two completely different aesthetics, two completely different forms of movement,” Schreier says. “I need both at this point in my life.”

“The amount of sheer star power that’s come to Harvard in the past four years that I’ve been able to experience has really shaped my outlook on dance,” she says. This growth is also the product of the fact that the new dance styles that she’s learning and performing inevitably find their way into the works that she choreographs, creating a visible shift in her work. The other dancers at Harvard have helped the process as well, since their varying backgrounds have facilitated a creative exchange.

Spending a summer working at the Vail International Dance Festival, Schreier was able to observe masters like Chris Wheeldon, former resident choreographer for the New York City Ballet. “I was able to watch him in the studio, creating his works from the beginning to end,” she says. “I became fascinated by his works and choreographic processes.” She believes that such exposure to other choreographers helps her extend her own works.

Schreier’s evolution is visible in many of the pieces she has choreographed, one of which was selected this year for the American College Dance Festival Gala performance, an experience she describes as wonderful. “It gives you a sense of accomplishment, that you have this body of work that you feel good about presenting to other people outside of the Harvard community,” she says.

Despite the fact that Schreier never choreographs with a narrative in mind, the bittersweet feelings of a graduating senior are evident in the piece she will be presenting at Arts First. “I’m wishing I could stay here a little longer,” she says. Like a true dancer, Schreier reverts to movement when trying to explain the piece, but says that it’s full of tension, despite the airy nature of the Bach music she chose to set it against.

“You have to be careful not to mirror what is happening in the music, but at the same time you have to be respectful of what the composer has already provided for you,” Schreier says. “So I try to be creative, but at the same time work within the confines of this music that I’m trying to extract.”

One thing that Schreier will not do is choreograph her own dances. “I prefer to give direction to other dancers and see where they go with it,” she says. Schreier feels that, in choreographing, “There’s a sense of pride but also a sense of release.” She is still uncertain whether she prefers choreographing or dancing, and dreads the day when she will have to choose one over the other.

Schreier hopes to continue dancing and choreographing after graduation, but she has yet to make any set plans. “I hope to be able to surround myself with people who can facilitate my growth,” she says. “Having the opportunity to work with up-and-coming choreographers would be extremely useful, to immerse myself in the dance world somehow.”

No matter where she finds herself, dancing—which is second nature to her—is sure to stay a part of her life. As she says, “It would be incredibly difficult to tear a part of yourself away.” ­

—Kerry A. Goodenow