Dance Major Zev Haworth’s Movement Reveals His Passion

Zev knew he wanted to dance from the time he was small. In fact, he took his first lesson at 6 years old and let the momentum carry him from there. When he was in middle school, his family moved to Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, and he started training more rigorously, focusing on ballet and contemporary dance. Then, he got more involved with his studio as he got older—taking more classes every week, auditioning for summer programs, and joining a student company. What’s more, he even started choreographing his own pieces. By the time he was a senior in high school, he knew he wanted to audition for college programs—and he knew NYU was the school where he could take his art to the next level.

The curriculum at NYU gives Zev the freedom to explore his artistic vision. The program also offers the support he needs to progress as a dancer in technique and skill. In addition, expert faculty—professionals in the field themselves—provide enthusiastic mentorship along the way and fellow students show Zev opportunities to grow. “In this program the diverse backgrounds in dance and the different outlooks students have on the dance world—along with their individual experiences—have opened my eyes immensely,” he explains.

When Zev is performing or choreographing a piece, he is careful to consider how it will translate to an audience. “My approach is to think a lot about the intention and focus of each individual moment of the choreography that I produce,” he says. “I try not to just produce choreography for the sake of producing it, but I think about the way in which the decision I make within the structure of the material will shape and guide the narrative I’m trying to tell.”

In the spring Zev both choreographed and performed in an eight-minute piece that featured 12 dancers for the Tisch Dance Works IV dance program. Correspondingly, the piece was titled “the early spring.” As he continues training at NYU in his senior year, Zev works toward his goal of joining a dance company in New York City. And some day he hopes to become the artistic director or choreographer of his own company and continue to move audiences with the storytelling leveraged through his art.