College Dance Programs
Ball State University Department of Theatre and Dance offers seven diverse degree options that emphasize developing and nurturing each student’s creativity, curiosity, and collaborative skills. We inspire our students to be thinkers, responsible citizens, and motivated theatre artists who will make a difference in creating the next generation’s voice.
Our undergraduate-only program, low student-to-faculty ratio, hands-on advising and mentoring from a faculty of working professionals, and distinguished guest artists in all disciplines allow for the personal development of each artist as an individual.
We offer B.F.A. degrees in Acting, Dance, and Musical Theatre, and B.A./B.S. degrees in Design and Technology, Directing/Stage Management, Theatre Education and Theatrical Studies.
The department is an active award-winning participant in KCACTF, SETC and USITT. Our degrees are fully accredited by the National Association of Schools of Theatre and National Association of Schools of Dance.
For more than 40 years, Columbia College Chicago has educated world-renowned performers, instructors and innovators in dance.
Dancemaking is the heart of Columbia’s internationally recognized Dance Center, where you’ll learn choreography, technique and improvisation across a wide range of styles. As Chicago’s leading presenter of contemporary dance of regional, national and international significance, the Dance Center closely collaborates with the city’s diverse dance communities to ignite your imagination.
But, as an artist, you need more. You’ll also receive a first-rate liberal arts education with opportunities for cross-training in theatre and digital technology, teaching, arts management and body science.
The IU Contemporary Dance Program offers a collection of dance experiences that are accessible to students who seek serious study in the art of dance. The program’s core offerings consist of curricula which, through the highest quality of training and instruction, strengthen and refine contemporary dance technique as well as provide scholarly inquiry into the history, science and aesthetics of dance. The faculty of the IU Contemporary Dance Program strives to not only teach, but mentor, and provide a strong theoretical base from which each dancer can grow and work as an individual artist. Students are encouraged to seek their own venue for expression, such as performance, choreography, teaching, production or scholarship, and prepare for a successful career in the professional and academic field of dance.
The School of Theatre and Dance at Northern Illinois University provides intensive artistic and academic training for students preparing for careers in theatre and theatre-related areas. The course of study is rigorous and realistic, designed to develop, challenge and broaden the skills and attitudes of all theatre students, but especially the highly motivated student who takes responsibility for his or her own growth.
Our principles are simple. Students perform publicly all four years of the program. Our students have a strong work ethic and commitment to excellence, but also the ability to work as an ensemble and treat other artists with respect – this is not only fostered but required. We emphasize in collaboration and NOT Competition!
As an undergraduate in dance, you’ll study composition and choreography in depth as you are challenged to write, research, and analyze the field of dance. At the same time, you’ll continue to develop your dance skills with technique classes and performance opportunities.
The foundations of our dance program are contemporary modern dance, which includes the vibrant Jump Rhythm Jazz style, along with ballet and tap. You’ll examine the body in motion, explore collaborations in dance and music, and improvise dance as you develop your own vocabulary for composition and choreography.
In our rigorous program focused on contemporary modern dance, our students learn how the body works, research our art form’s expansive history, and define their own voices as performers and choreographers. Together we embrace the messiness of creation and explore how our diverse viewpoints can contribute to the evolution of dance.
Called “a hotbed of choreographic innovation” by the New York Times, our intimate program features one-on-one mentoring from an extraordinary group of resident performers, choreographers, scholars, and educators plus numerous guest artists. Our faculty members have been honored with six New York Dance and Performance (“Bessie”) Awards, a Doris Duke Performing Artist Award, two Fulbright Scholarships, and two Guggenheim Fellowships. They have been performers and choreographers for artists ranging from Mikhail Baryshnikov to Bebe Miller to Paul Taylor. Dedicated educators, they have earned numerous campus awards for excellence in research, teaching, and advising.
Building deep relationships across the professional dance world, we connect students with major ensembles such as the Trisha Brown Dance Company and the Merce Cunningham Dance Company, which have welcomed our alumni as performers, and each year we select a few students for our unique Mark Morris Shadow Program. With broad skills, our graduates choreograph, become artistic directors, dance on Broadway, teach, write, and thrive in body-based professions.
Our collaborative work lives at the forefront of innovative and integrative techniques that transform dancing and choreography. We invite students to take charge of their education, experiment, immerse in the creative process, and lead dance into new territories. All students—in our BFA, BA, and MFA programs or our courses for non-dance majors—are encouraged to locate center and go from there.