The Dance Master

He strides across campus, goes up the steps to Morgan Hall and pulls open the door to the auditorium. In front of him, 16 dancers are quickly trying to get ready for rehearsal. Women fiddle with their scarves, leg warmers and pointe shoes, while the men stretch and warm up their leaps. From the moment he steps into the room, their eyes are on him. As he greets his dancers, they begin to take the stage, anticipating instructions.

Cornelius Carter crosses the stage, dims the house lights and pops a CD into the stereo. He then takes a seat on the third row in the center of the auditorium and waits.

The haunting spiritual music takes over, and for a moment the whole room is still. Slowly, under the watchful eye of their director, a single line of 10 black dancers takes the stage with long, slow dramatic steps. The music moves more quickly, and the bodies follow suit. Minutes later, the piece is over and the group silently stands on stage, watching Carter spring into action.

"That wasn't bad for our first time in here," he said before quickly rearranging stage positions and starting points. The dancers work quickly, trying to adjust to the criticisms and changes made by a world-renowned artist - who, to them, is simply a teacher.

The man

It all started as an accident. At age 17, Carter was working a summer job playing clarinet horn for a musical and watching the dancers who performed. He began to imitate them.

"One day the director said, 'Oh, I think you know this show, and I'm going to put you in,'" Carter said. "That's how I got started. I came to dance really late. Most guys come to dance very late."

Carter's decision to pursue dance was soon followed by an urge to teach.

"It's strange. I went into dance right away knowing that I wanted to be a teacher," he said. "It is just a calling. It's something that you just know right away."

Coming in with the mindset that teaching was his future gave Carter a unique perspective as he began to learn.

"I think what it did was make me not think like a dancer. It made me immediately think like someone who was going to be doing all aspects of dance," he said. "Even when I started working professionally with companies, I was always busy learning the back scene stuff. I would stay and watch rehearsals all the time even if it was an all pointe rehearsal. I knew I wanted to work with women and teach pointe and the only way you can do that is by watching."

The dedication to learn the craft is one Carter tries to impress upon his students at the University.

"I still say to my students all the time, if you want to be a better dancer, you need to watch and go see everything."

The awards

In Carter's office on the second floor of Rowand-Johnson Hall, posters of art and dancers hang on the walls. Photos of former students cover his desk. Plaques and trophies that symbolize his success are nestled on shelves throughout the office.

The awards and national recognition have been coming for years. Certificates laud him as a UA National Alumni Association Outstanding Commitment to Teaching award winner, while others name him as a distinguished alumnus. Carter caught the national spotlight in 2001 when he was named the U.S. Professor of the Year by the Council for Advancement and Support of Education and the Carnegie Foundation. Carter was selected from a group of 384 candidates representing 272 colleges in the research and doctoral institution division.

For his students, working with the famed professor can be a process.

"It's a privilege to have him as the director of our program," said Jamal Edwards, a junior majoring in dance."He always gives you motivation. He can be intimidating at first, but later you know what to do and what not to do. He's a very strong personality, and does have a kind of intimidation, which is a good thing to have in a dance teacher."

It is not, however, any of the awards or performances that Carter names as his greatest accomplishment.

For Carter, who was born in Greenville, Miss., it is his commitment to the Alabama program that he calls his greatest accomplishment. Carter has been teaching at the University since 1992.

"Being able to be still at a place that required me to stay and create and nourish a body of work and students - that has led to my national and international success," he said.

Carter can't name a particular moment or accomplishment as his biggest success. It is bigger than that, he said.

"It is all of these components that shapes that success," Carter said. "And mine is looking at 90 percent of our students who are working professionally. Our students are known in the field of dance, in every aspect, not just as performers."

He touts the success stories of the program, from a former student working with the American Ballet Theatre summer intensive program as an administrator to a former student who is in charge of the Radio City Rockettes summer intensive program.

In the world of academia, it is relatively uncommon to stay in one place for too long. But Carter has remained at the Capstone for 16 years. He said his Southern heritage has prompted him to stay in a position where he can give back.

"You know somewhere deep inside if you're not here to give back to your community, who else would do it?" he said. "It's almost like it's been a calling. Yes, I could have gone anywhere I wanted to go. But I know I'm here for a reason, and that reason in and of itself just drives me to stay."

The support of colleagues in the University's theatre and dance program and College of Arts and Sciences paired with the support of Provost Judy Bonner and President Robert Witt have left an impression on him as well, Carter said.

"When you're in a place where there is support, that carries a lot," he said. "Support doesn't always mean financially, but support where you know that people share the same vision."

The show

One of the first things Carter did upon his arrival at the Capstone in 1992 was to create the Alabama Repertory Dance Theatre, in which students perform works created by faculty members.

"Prior to coming here I was at Harvard and working in Europe, living in Iceland, and I said if I'm going to teach in the South, I definitely wanted my students to experience international travel because that's all I had known," Carter said. "I knew right away that I wanted to do that. Immediately, I gathered students together and said I was starting a pre-professional company, and I'm going to choreograph a piece in two weeks."

That was exactly what Carter did with that group of students, as they traveled to the Fifth International University Dance Biennial in Lyon, France during the summer of 1992.

For Carter, putting his students' performances on an international level had many benefits.

"I wanted to get the students used to not being content with being average," he said. "This was how we could make it possible. I'm not going to do international travel and just come back talking about it. It doesn't serve anybody. I don't want to be traveling and not have my students having those same experiences. It wouldn't be real for any of us."

With an established pre-professional company in ARDT, Carter had an in-house venue to prepare his students for the professional world of dance. The program has done exactly what he wanted, he said.

"[Our students] are all working in professional venues. They are there, looking like stars. That's why I stay," Carter said. "Anytime you can produce first-rate artists, and every year you see each freshman class get stronger and stronger. Then you build a reputation. Great dancers will come and find you. Right now, I think we are at that level that that is what's happening."

In the fall 2007 edition of ARDT, students will perform works by Carter, along with works by three other faculty members - Tara Fasshauer, John Virciglio and Rhea Speights. The event kicks off on Nov. 13 and runs through Nov. 16 at Morgan Auditorium.

Carter has two pieces in the show, "A Spiritual Suite" and "Ladies Sing the Blues."

"Cornelius really works with spiritual music and hymns," Edwards said. "If you are working with Cornelius, you are usually going to do something spiritual or with a lot of emotion."

"A Spiritual Suite" features an all-black corps of dancers.

To be a part of a piece like that, Edwards said, is special.

"All African Americans in a piece, especially with four guys, that's something you don't see a lot, especially in the South," he said. "I really like that aspect of it. I enjoy it. It's a lot of jumps and it's very athletic. The audience will really like that about it."

For Carter, watching his pieces come together has been special to watch.

"I don't know if it's the newness, the freshness of the new incoming students with being mixed in with the seasoned dancers," he said. "You can see the beauty in their fresh take on work, and watching the seasoned dancers who understand all of the nuances to what I do. There is something beautiful about naiveté mixed with that sophisticated, seasoned dancer."

In the second piece, "Ladies Sing the Blues," Carter said he has found a way to capture the music of some of his favorite female vocalists.

"The piece sort of deals with reflections of great conversations that took place where this music always seems to appear at - wonderful dinner parties," he said. "Those moments, no matter where you are in the world, emotionally those vocalists can get the same response from people no matter what nationality or race they are. That's something I try to search for in all of my work."

The dream

When Carter arrived at the University, 15 students comprised the dance department. Now that number has surpassed 100, with outside majors joining in classes as well.

"It's that old wise tale. If you build it, they will come," Carter said. "I remember the former director Edie Barnes. She always said be patient, they will be standing in line to get in this program. I believed her."

Carter said he believes standards have played a major part in the rise of the program.

"You have to have those standards," he said. "When you really require excellence, people want to be around the best. That's just it."

One of Carter's dreams come true is seeing the arts back on the rise in American culture.

"I just feel that they are back on the rise in our culture. To be in a field that is not one that is always in demand - there is a demand for dance right now. And I think it's because there is a resurgence of lots of work. Everywhere you look, it's there. Everywhere we look, it's part of our culture. We are just in a good time."

Carter is quick to point out that nothing he has done at the Capstone has been on his own. For all the awards, honors and successes represented in his office, he will not overlook the people who have made it possible to perform on so high a level.

"I just couldn't thank the community students, faculty, administration, and just our every day community for their continuous support," he said.

Names roll off his tongue so quickly they can't all be caught - tech support workers, the department chair, costume designers, the theatre manager. The list goes on.

"These are people who are behind the scenes. They make these things truly possible," Carter said. "They have given tireless efforts. My success is because of this incredible team. It would be the equivalent to having one of the best coaching staffs in football. The success of this company is based on, of course, my vision and leadership, but it is this team that makes this whole program phenomenal."

Looking back to his beginnings and at the same time looking forward to the future, Carter said he knows it has been a difficult journey. But, he said, anything a person truly wants to do will be difficult.

"I think it's very important for young people to know that," he said. "I always say careers are not given. They are made. And in making a career work, there will always be challenges with that."