Nicole Diambra

Nicole Diambra is an undergraduate dance and recreation, parks and tourism major

Class of 2018, Bachelor of Arts in dance and recreation, parks and tourism, and special events concentration
Knoxville, Tennessee

While many students may be relaxing over the summer, Nicole Diambra is traveling to the Bahamas and Peru while also trying to make time for her rigorous dance practice. Diambra’s trips are not vacations though—in both the Bahamas and Peru she will be conducting research on the relationships between dance, culture and tourism.

When Diambra graduated from high school she knew that she wanted to major in dance, but there were no schools in Tennessee that offered a dance major. “I knew that dance was a huge passion of mine and I wanted to pursue it as a career, so I began looking at schools out of state. The atmosphere and beauty of Radford is the reason I was drawn to it; I visited a lot of other schools as well, but felt most at home at Radford,” explained Diambra.

Diambra’s double major in dance and recreation, parks and tourism allows her to explore both of her passions: dance and travel. “Both of my majors speak to who I am; I have been dancing since I was four years old and have also always loved to travel,” said Diambra. “I wanted to be in the recreation, parks and tourism field so that I could help other people experience travel in a positive and exciting way.”

This summer, Diambra will be continuing her love of travel with the Tourism Institute, a recreation, parks and tourism Maymester course to the Bahamas, and the Radford Amazonian Research Expedition (RARE), an annual research trip where undergraduate students travel to Peru to conduct original research in a rainforest ecosystem. Although the RARE trip is primarily focused on biological research, this year’s trip has expanded to include students from a variety of backgrounds and disciplines.

On these trips, Diambra will primarily be interviewing local communities about how they have seen their culture preserved through dance and how tourism has impacted local dance preservation. Diambra also hopes to better understand the broad spectrum of dance as well as become exposed to various styles and purposes of dance. 

During both trips Diambra will be chronicling her research with a GoPro that she purchased through multiple scholarships she received. Ultimately, Diambra’s goal is to create a documentary and original choreography about her experiences for her research capstone project.

Diambra is grateful for the diverse experiences she’s offered at Radford University. “The RARE trip, Bahamas trip and countless performance opportunities I have had, both at Radford University as well as at the Kennedy Center, are all such unique opportunities to engage in the areas of study I love,” explained Diambra.