Room 132 White Building will be alive with dance forms from around the world Sunday as part of the annual Interdisciplinary Day of Dance.

This years theme, "Ethnicity in Dance," will focus on tap dancing, Eastern European folk dancing, and the dance forms of Africa.

The classes in the program are designed to draw attention to the University's interdisciplinary dance minor, although anyone interested can attend, said University dance instructor Casey Sams Bealer.

"We're trying to approach different ideas about dance that maybe we wouldn't be able to talk about in our regular classes," she said.

The three classes offered will be taught at the beginner level and at no charge, Bealer said.

The first program, a tap class, begins at 11 a.m. and will be taught by Jim Hoskins, assistant professor of arts.

"He is going to be teaching a class and talking about clogging and tap as being a truly American form of dance," Bealer said.

The session on folk art forms will be taught by Elizabeth Hanley, director of the Penn State Internationale Dancers. Hanley, assistant professor of exercise and sport science, will focus on the relationships between the dance, music, and culture of Eastern European countries such as Yugoslavia, Greece, and Russia, Bealer said. The program begins at 12:15 p.m.

Myrna Munchus-Bullock, University artist-in-residence this semester, will teach the third class at 2 p.m. Bealer said the class will deal with African-American dance forms. Munchus-Bullock will address the integral part dance plays in African culture.

Pat Heigel-Tanner, who coordinates the University's dance program, said this is the third year an Interdisciplinary Day of Dance has been held. The event was created the same year as the University's dance minor.

"The first year we did sort of a combination of what we have here in our dance program because we wanted people to know that we now have a dance minor," she said.

Heigel-Tanner said last year's program was an in-depth look at producing a dance concert. "(The program was) sort of a behind the scenes look at a dance concert, with lighting and costumes and getting ready for production," she said.

Bealer said the event has been an important opportunity for communication and education between disciplines. "We really get to spend some time with one another and . . . acknowledge the interrelationship between dance and music and theater."

The purpose of the event is to educate as well as entertain the participants, Bealer said. "We're hoping that the people that come to the Day of Dance learn something new about dance that they might not have learned before."

The program is scheduled to run from 11 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. All students are welcome.