{"id":360244,"date":"2026-07-03T19:17:15","date_gmt":"2026-07-03T19:17:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/360244\/"},"modified":"2026-07-03T19:17:15","modified_gmt":"2026-07-03T19:17:15","slug":"texas-tech-dance-intensive-attracts-new-prospective-students-july-2026-texas-tech-now","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/360244\/","title":{"rendered":"Texas Tech Dance Intensive Attracts New Prospective Students | July 2026 | Texas Tech Now"},"content":{"rendered":"

A new dance camp attracts future Red Raiders hopefuls, providing a week of collegiate-level
\n dance instruction.<\/p>\n

\t\tCREATORS<\/p>\n

\"Portrait<\/p>\n

Saige Conquest\u2019s alarm rings at 7 a.m.<\/p>\n

She and her mother, Heather, have set up camp at a hotel near Texas Tech University<\/a> so Saige can attend the Wildwind Summer Dance Intensive<\/a> hosted by the School of Theatre & Dance<\/a>.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Saige bypasses the snooze feature and springs out of bed; she has a full day ahead.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Music plays from her cell phone while she gets dressed and puts up her hair. Then
\n she grabs breakfast from the hotel lobby, and she and Heather make the short drive
\n to the Creative Movement Studio<\/a> on campus.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Saige is beginning her senior year of high school this fall at Hyde Park High School
\n in Austin, Texas. Dance has been a constant in her life since age 3 when she began
\n ballet and tap. While she certainly has the talent to go straight into a dance career,
\n Saige intends to earn an undergraduate degree, and her first choice is Texas Tech.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"Saige<\/p>\n

\u201cI feel like I would improve so much getting a degree from Texas Tech rather than
\n just going into the performance industry,\u201d she says. \u201cAnd this program is hands-on,
\n so I\u2019d still get a lot of performance time.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

But one of the most compelling reasons Saige wants to attend Texas Tech is for its
\n American Sign Language<\/a> (ASL) program.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ve found it difficult to find universities that offer degrees in ASL, and Texas
\n Tech does,\u201d she explains.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Removing Barriers<\/p>\n

The summer intensive is the first offered through Texas Tech. For many years, the
\n J.T. & Margaret Talkington College of Visual & Performing Arts<\/a> has hosted music and theater camps, but faculty were looking for ways to add dance
\n to the mix.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cWe thought this would be a great way to engage with local dancers and dancers across
\n Texas and neighboring states to showcase the strength of our program and the training
\n our faculty provides,\u201d says Head of Dance Kyla Olson<\/a>.<\/p>\n

For some families, summer camps feel impossible due to costs \u2013 many camps totaling
\n beyond four-figures. The faculty looked for ways to make this experience different.
\n They approached the REA Charitable Trust and applied for a grant, outlining the experience
\n they wanted prospective students to have, regardless of household income.\u00a0<\/p>\n

They were approved and offered the camp at $25 per student.<\/p>\n

\"SaigeSaige Conquest<\/p>\n

\u201cPeople couldn\u2019t believe the camp was so affordable,\u201d Olson says.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The grant aided in registration numbers, with about 40 students participating from
\n around the state, with various levels of skill and experience.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Each student stood out with their own style. Saige was putting in extra effort since
\n the intensive was doubling as her audition for Texas Tech\u2019s Bachelor of Fine Arts in Dance<\/a> program.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cI am interested in attending Texas Tech because it has an incredible dance school
\n as well as an amazing American Sign Language major that would allow me to become a
\n better interpreter, which is another career path I want to explore,\u201d Saige says.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Feels Like Home<\/p>\n

Saige\u2019s mother says she knew Saige was an empathetic soul early on.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen Saige was in elementary school, she had a classmate who was deaf,\u201d Heather says.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Rather than assuming she couldn\u2019t communicate with the boy, Saige used it as an opportunity
\n to learn ASL.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cShe really loves to help people, and she doesn\u2019t like it when others are singled
\n out or bullied for being different,\u201d Heather continues.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Because the family lives in Austin, Saige found ways to visit and volunteer with the
\n Texas School for the Deaf. When she started high school, she was able to enroll in
\n ASL as a foreign language. Her private school does mission trips each spring, and
\n for the past two years, Saige has traveled to Jamaica to serve at a deaf school.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cThe emotion and facial expressions Saige harnesses in dance have made her a better
\n interpreter,\u201d Heather says. \u201cSaige can do so many things; she is a helper who makes
\n friends with everyone.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"Saige\"Saige<\/p>\n

She\u2019s even combined dance and signing before, incorporating ASL into a performance.
\n For Saige, they\u2019re not two separate passions, but similar languages she wants to fuse
\n into a calling.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen I began looking at colleges though, it became apparent it would be challenging
\n to find a university that excelled in both areas,\u201d Saige says. \u201cBut then I found Texas
\n Tech.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

Back in the creative movement studio, Saige lights up as she sees Anthony \u201cYNOT\u201d Denaro
\n walk into the room. A professor of practice, he\u2019s scheduled to teach a hip-hop technique
\n class.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"Denaro\"AnthonyAnthony \u201cYNOT\u201d Denaro<\/p>\n

Saige walks up to him with the confidence of someone beyond her years.\u00a0<\/p>\n

As Denaro turns the music on and gets the class moving, Saige moves through the combinations,
\n her ponytail swinging back and forth keeping time with the beat. \u00a0<\/p>\n

\"Saige<\/p>\n

When Denaro teaches the class a move called the dolphin, Saige is one of the first
\n to grasp the technique. The movement requires a jump before the dancer dives toward
\n the floor, catching themselves with their arms.\u00a0<\/p>\n

For Olson, watching students like Saige move through the week was exactly what faculty
\n had hoped for.\u00a0<\/p>\n

“She throws herself into the material, unafraid and open to learning new things,\u201d
\n Olson says. \u201cWe certainly look for students like that because they grow so much from
\n that curiosity.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"Saige<\/p>\n

Many attendees said they\u2019d be back next year. Others said they\u2019d be recruiting dancers
\n from their home studios to attend. And a $25 registration fee with a week on campus
\n did what no brochure can do \u2013 it made Texas Tech feel like home for Saige before she
\n even applied.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cDancing is what I love,\u201d she says. \u201cAnd this is where I want to do it.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A new dance camp attracts future Red Raiders hopefuls, providing a week of collegiate-level dance instruction. CREATORS Saige…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":3976,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[27,29,28],"class_list":["post-360244","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-texas","tag-texas","tag-texas-headlines","tag-texas-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/360244","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=360244"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/360244\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/3976"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=360244"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=360244"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=360244"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}