{"id":227874,"date":"2026-05-08T09:15:52","date_gmt":"2026-05-08T13:15:52","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.montclair.edu\/newscenter\/?p=227874"},"modified":"2026-05-08T09:39:26","modified_gmt":"2026-05-08T13:39:26","slug":"mfa-grad-choreographs-a-future-in-dance-education","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.montclair.edu\/newscenter\/2026\/05\/08\/mfa-grad-choreographs-a-future-in-dance-education\/","title":{"rendered":"MFA Grad Choreographs a Future in Dance Education"},"content":{"rendered":"

For someone who once believed he had missed his moment, Jason Cameron is about to have a big one. On Monday, May 11, at Montclair State University\u2019s 2026 Commencement<\/a>, the 46\u2011year\u2011old will earn his Master of Fine Arts in Dance<\/a> and address the crowd as the Graduate Student speaker.<\/span><\/p>\n

Cameron has danced around the world, but never in a venue as large as Prudential Center in Newark, where 4,251 students will receive their diplomas over two ceremonies. <\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cI’m not going to be able to have a dress rehearsal, so I’m trying to put myself in a place of calm,\u201d Cameron says.<\/span><\/p>\n

For him, though, this moment is as much about what comes next as what happens on stage. Drawing on those years as a performer, his MFA work at Montclair has focused on how that experience can translate into teaching \u2013 using everyday gestures to make dance more accessible and to expand what \u201ccounts\u201d as dance.<\/span><\/p>\n

Expanding what counts as dance<\/strong><\/h2>\n

Much of his graduate research has explored everyday actions as choreographic material, starting with familiar movement and building layered performance out of it.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cI’ve spent much of my life hearing people say they can’t dance, that they have two left feet, or that dance is only for the trained,\u201d he says. \u201cAs an artist, I\u2019ve become increasingly committed to challenging those beliefs and to expanding how dance is understood, created and experienced.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

His culminating project, <\/span>Again, But Different,<\/em> built an entire performance from familiar movement. Dance Professor Elizabeth McPherson, MFA Dance coordinator, says Cameron \u201capproached every single assignment with insight and depth of thinking, often bringing in personal examples from his own teaching practice.\u201d His thesis, she notes, used everyday gestures \u2013 often in humorous ways \u2013 \u201cto show just how meaningful they can be when structured for performance.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

From stage to classroom<\/strong><\/h2>\n

For Cameron, turning ordinary actions into choreography is another way to invite people in, and Montclair\u2019s low\u2011residency MFA in Dance<\/a> gave him the structure to pursue that work. The two\u2011year program features asynchronous online study and summers spent inside the Montclair dance studios.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cWe were sweating and moving and doing all the creative practices that we could physically,\u201d mixed with academics in dance technology and media, anatomy and movement analysis.<\/span><\/p>\n

Montclair also let him step into the role he\u2019d been working toward by giving him classroom experience teaching Dance Appreciation to undergraduates.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

I’m in such a happy place now. I’ve found that, at an older age, I can still be on stage, but that’s not my main focus. My main focus is to be an educator, to enjoy the benefits of being a dance professor.\u201d<\/span><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

From Nutcracker kid to Commencement speaker<\/strong><\/h2>\n

The roots of that commitment go back to his childhood in Lynn, Massachusetts. His parents, Paul and Claire Brewer, got him into lessons after he began dancing around the house, mimicking The Nutcracker<\/em>\u2019s Rat King. \u201cMy parents worked hard and made sacrifices so I could have opportunities to dance. My dad even sanded the studio floors at my dance school and took on extra work to help make my training possible,\u201d he says.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cWhen I say I’d missed my moment, I tried one year of college at SUNY Purchase\u2019s Conservatory of Dance right out of high school,\u201d Cameron says. \u201cFourteen thousand dollars for out\u2011of\u2011state tuition was just too much for my family. I also wasn\u2019t very focused. I just wanted to dance professionally.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

At 20, he left for Florida to take a job at Busch Gardens in Tampa. \u201cI ended up staying with that company for almost 12 years, working on cruise ships, dancing around the world, and being a production corporate dancer,\u201d he says.<\/span><\/p>\n