Ballet programs? No major...Ivy's and ect....

[riocarmenstar]

<p>What schools have a ballet program you don't need to be a dance major to be apart of? Unless you want to be a dance teacher (which I don't) I don't see the point in majoring in dance. I've heard princeton has one. Any others? not just ivy's...any good school! Thanks:)</p>

[danceclass]

<p>Take this over to the Dance Major thread to get more input. Off the top of my head, I know that Elon has both a BA and a BFA track. People say good things about Barnard, and that they have several levels of ballet from beginner to professional. Oh, and there are more things you can do with a dance major than teach.</p>

[cltdad]

<p>If you are looking at top 50 schools that have ballet programs, most of them will not require you to be a dance major. My daughter is in the Harvard Ballet Company which is purely an extracurricular activity, but a pretty high level one (a number of recent grads are now dancing professionally with major ballet companies). Harvard does not have dance as an academic field, but between dance classes that are open to everyone and rehearsals my daughter is in the studio daily throughout the year. The opportunity to continue ballet while majoring in another field was an important criteria for her college search. The other top 20 schools she applied to that met this criteria were Columbia (dance at Barnard), Duke, Emory, Stanford and Washington U. in St. Louis. These other schools do have dance majors, but do no prevent other students from taking classes and auditioning for performances.</p>

[frazzled1]

<p>Vassar - strong ballet and modern training, and an outstanding company. There is a dance department, which offers dance as a non-major: [Overview</a> - Dance - Vassar College](<a href=“http://dance.vassar.edu/overview/index.html]Overview”>http://dance.vassar.edu/overview/index.html) Ballet technique is offered through intermediate IV. My d has friends who attended top SIs who’ve been well pleased with the ballet offerings there.</p>

[warblersrule]

<p>I second the suggestion of Duke, which has an excellent dance program with particular strength in ballet. Duke is also home to the American Dance Festival. </p>

<p>

@loveduke22

yay Duke Dance!</p>

<p>There are some amazing dancers on campus, and you’ll definitely be able to continue dancing/performing. Modern is generally a really big deal, particularly because of ADF being on campus, but I, like you, wanted to continue ballet. There are many different classes offered, and if you’re an advanced dancer you’re probably going to do either Ballet 5, which is essentially just the 2 most advanced classes (Ballet 3 and 4) combined under 1 class (as in you take Ballet 3 and 4 but your schedule says Ballet 5), or Dance 80 which is basically like pick which classes you want to take what days of the week (so you can throw in some modern or jazz or something if you want). There’s also Ballet rep which is basically just the rehearsals for the Fall and Spring productions. For the most part there are usually 2 different repertory performances put together by professors and sometimes student-choreographed performances. But yeah, the fall production is called November Dances and the spring Choreolab…google them and you’ll probably find some photos/maybe videos. So yes, opportunities to take classes AND perform, and if you want to, choreograph (usually as senior project).</p>

<p>Professors are amazing. Tyler Walters is wonderful, and does some amazing choreography, and his wife, Julie is also fabulous. They’re both a bit on the contemporary side of things, but you’ll get to know them both and love their classes!</p>

<p>I also know a lot of Duke dancers who have gone on to work with some amazing companies/choreographers over the summer if that’s something you’re interested in as well. Plus Duke brings in SO MANY dancers/choreographers every year so master classes/opportunities to work with them are everywhere. Last year we had Shen Wei (more on the modern side, but the guy choreographed the Beijing opening ceremony…enough said), Donald Byrd (whose dancers did some straight ballet master classes), Leonard Cruz (who actually taught all spring), and Vincent Mantsoe. Also, Katie Glasner who has been with Twyla Tharp’s company for years actually set Eight Jelly Rolls on a group of Duke dancers and it was AMAZING. I know these are all modern/contemporary people, but it gives you a sense of the importance of Duke’s dance program to the university as a whole. AND ADF is showing a real return to the ballet end of things this year, so maybe this fall there will be some more of that on campus</p>

<p>Another cool thing is if you decide to major in dance, you’ll not only have your technique classes, but also classroom classes. Postmodern dance, the Diaghiliv ballet, Ballet Masters, Anatomy for dancers, etc etc. In my opinion, a really cool second major if you’re not aspiring on being a professional dancer but want to continue!</p>

<p>If you visit campus DEFINITELY take a class…Ballet 4 is offered MWF mornings, usually, and Ballet 3 TuTh afternoons, which is where you’ll find Duke’s advanced dancers/rep students. I think any advanced dancer will be really happy with the opportunities to continue at Duke…you definitely won’t have to let it go!</p>

<p>In addition, if the repertory groups/studio classes aren’t your style, there are various dance groups across campus that will perform throughout each semester. DefMo (Defining Movement) is audition-only and they perform pretty much any style of dance throughout the year (definitely a campus favorite!). Sabrosura (another favorite) is our latin dance group (audition-only), Dance Black I believe is still around (the one time I’ve seen them they did a really cool hip hop piece), and Dance Slam (which does not hold auditions) focuses on jazz/lyrical-esque pieces. These groups have their own showcases at various times throughout the year, and will usually invite all the other dance groups to perform a piece at their showcases. The benefit of a dance club is if you want to choreograph you’re probably going to have the chance to at some point.

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