New Bar Exam Section -- Interpretive Dance

The National Conference of Bar Examiners announced last Thursday that it will be adding a new section to the Multistate Bar Exam -- Interpretive Dance.  

The new section will add one hour to the current bar exam, and take place on the same day as the MEE and MPT.  Students will be given a topic from the current list of MBE subjects (for example, "The Rule Against Perpetuities") and will then have 40 minutes to choreograph an appropriate dance "displaying the student's understanding and familiarity with the relevant issues and analysis" and "showing the student's aptitude in formulating the relevant rule of law in logical and complete ways."  The students will be given six potential music choices:  "Les toreadors from Carmen Suite No. 1" by Georges Bizet, "Ride of the Valkyries from Die Walkure" by Richard Wagner, "Bugler's Holiday" by Leroy Anderson, "Rhapsody in Blue" by George Gershwin, "A Love Supreme" by John Coltrane, and "Baby Got Back" by Sir Mix-A-Lot.  The dance should take no longer than 10 minutes.    

At South Carolina, we will be instituting a new class in response to the change, which will include basic choreography to make sure the students fulfill the section's mandate of "choreography appropriate to the legal issue at hand."  The class will largely focus on Balanchine and Graham, although we will also look at Tharp and Cyrus as potential role models. 

We will also be instituting daily group sit-ups because of the importance of core strength.

(Alex Ruskell)