<p>We visited Barnard last weekend and my daughter fell in love. It looks like the perfect balance of dance, plus a rigorous liberal arts education.<br>
We are just wondering if we could learn a little more about the dance program, as we didn’t have time to explore that specifically while we were there.
Our questions are -
What kind of background do most dance majors come from? Mostly ballet/modern training? Well rounded tap/jazz/ballet, possibly from competition background? Little previous training, but a desire to learn? All of the above?</p>
<p>And then, what kinds of things are recent dance majors doing now? Are any performing with well known companies/Broadway/Cruise ships, etc.?</p>
<p>Thanks in advance for any insight that can be provided.</p>
<p>I’d say all of the above….except I doubt there are many majors with little previous training. The way the dance program works is that there are ballet and modern classes offered each semester at 6 levels of expertise. The prospective students self-determine their initial placement in the classes during the two week “shopping” period, and the instructors will provide feedback as to whether they are at the appropriate level or not. There are also tap and jazz and various other styles offered, but not at that many different levels.</p>
<p>My own D came to Barnard with the idea of perhaps majoring in dance and something like English. She ended up doing a neuroscience major (and met the academic requirements for both the behavioral and cellular focus in that major); she also came very close to having an official double major in dance…however, she did not want to take all the “academic” dance classes required (dance history-type classes). By then she was very much into her science!</p>
<p>I don’t know about dance majors, necessarily, but I do know of students who majored in other fields while also studying dance at Barnard, and who performed professionally (regional theatre, Rockettes, national tours, etc). </p>
<p>If it’s possible to make another visit to Barnard, I’d strongly advise it. Your D can take a dance class or two and you can talk with someone in the department. I know when we did that, we met with the then-acting-department head. We were talking with her about the strong academics and dance at Barnard and she mentioned that they had students doing things like double-majors in dance and neuroscience. At the time, we laughed at the idea…… :)</p>
<p>Barnard’s dance program focuses primarily on ballet and modern- there are six levels taught in each discipline, from beginner to advanced. Offerings for other forms of dance are fairly limited. You can get a sense as to what the offerings are by checking course listings at [CU</a> Directory of Classes](<a href=“http://www.columbia.edu/cu/bulletin/uwb/]CU”>CU Directory of Classes)</p>
<p>I’m sure that Barnard students have a variety of different dance backgrounds. Some are absolute beginners, and some have had professional dance experience before coming to Barnard. Generally the students with strong dance training will start out at the higher levels. </p>
<p>My d. had a very strong dance background but never intended to pursue dance as a career or major in dance at college. She attended an audition-based arts high school as a dance student – her classmates who wanted to continue their dance studies either opted for BFA programs or joined dance companies or other productions after high school.</p>
<p>Thanks so much for both replies. That’s exactly the information I was looking for. Especially the post-grad performance info from churchmusicmom.</p>