The clock ticks to 10 am and all the doors in the Mort and Irma Handel Performing arts open up as dozens of the hartt school spill out of their 8:30 classes. Voices fill the halls as people run up to hug one another and tsk about everything that happened last night. There isn't a person left alone, everyone has someone who is dying to talk to them. After 10 minutes of intense socialization everyone scatters to head into their next dance class or rushes to backstage to grab something to eat. At this early hour the sun is just starting to illuminate the love wall put up a few months ago in the face of the election. This wall features messages from student and Staff detailing how no one is alone and that there are so many reasons to love life. It's a beautiful thing to see walking into the building everyday.
The Hartt School is a subset of the University of Hartford and includes within it Music, Theater, and Dance departments. The theater and dance students take most of their classes off campus at The Mort and Irma Handel performing art students while the music students take their classes on campus at the Alfred C. Fuller Music center. Though the students are all scattered throughout the university there is an unspoken solidarity between them all. The musical theater students take ear training and theory classes with the music students. The vocal performance students attend theater productions and the theater students attend theirs. The dance shows are always an exciting event and draw students from every major to them. All divisions support one another and in this way build solidarity. It is a fantastic school that I am proud to call home.
