Becoming a Dance Major

College Majors Dance Major
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<p>One of the things my d enjoyed most about her college search was getting to take dance classes at the schools she toured. It takes a bit of extra coordinating when scheduling tours and interviews, so be sure to start early. We found that almost every program was happy to arrange a class - all my d needed to do was find the schedule of dance classes, select the ones she was most interested in, and email either the department chair or secretary. Most websites were clear about the procedure for prospective students arranging to take dance classes.</p>

<p>The challenge for my d was finding schools with sufficient dance offerings for non-dance majors. She knew she’d be a dance minor, if possible, but she didn’t want a school where non-majors could only take recreational classes and couldn’t audition for dance performances, the school dance company, etc.</p>

<p>It’s understandable that schools with a pre-professional emphasis would reserve classes for majors, of course.</p>

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<p>deloar My did also did most of her visits junior year. We checked out a bunch of palces she was even remotely interested in during spring break. I want her to have all her applications done by October, so then we can worry about auditions.</p>

<p>DD has not been to OU recently or been to the dance department, but one of her friends is there. DD’s friend just finished her freshman year at OU but was a very strong dancer through high school, primarily ballet. DD sees herself as “like” this friend in terms of personality and interests (they have known each other since 4th and 6th grade). The friend OU as a school (and has a full ride) but found the dance weak and has lost ground, even though she was not planning on going on in dance as a pro. (This girl had SAB, SFB scholarship acceptances as a point of reference.) So this has turned DD off.
There is another aspect that makes me less excited about OU, Wright State, OSU, and CCM is that they are all moving from quarters to semesters in 2012. I know we (I work at UC) assure families that this will not disrupt students progress but I figure why the hassel if there are other places.
As for College of Charleston - we visited the school because of their arts administration program and met with the head of the theatre department, where the dance minor is located. CoC is renovating facilites now with the intent to move to a major when the space is available. So I doubtthey are advertising or posting anything yet.</p>

<p>We have also always tried to get DD into a dance class when we visit. DD is a dance major at her PA but has been working professionally in theatre and MT since she was 10, so most of the places we have been looking have to have some ability to accommadate this also.</p>

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<p>Frazzled1, I think my D is the Buffalo student you are referring to. Yes, she is very happy at UB and pretty happy with the dance program. It is not ideal, in that the ballet, while not bad, is not as intense as she would like, and also has no pointe yet. I think spring of sophomore year they get pointe again. She feels she is the best ballet dancer in her class (and you know her well enough to know that isn’t something I would hear from her unless it was really true and really obvious). She enjoyed modern with her fall semester teacher, not so much with spring teacher. Different styles, and lack of actual,sustained modern training at high school studio (as you know) affected which class she enjoyed the most, I think. Jazz there seems to be dominated by kids who came from competition dance schools, which she did not, so although she has done well in the classes, she does not feel she is noticed in them really. Tap she hated (had no experience with either), but that is fine since it is only required of freshmen, so she is done. She did have performance opportunities as a freshman. She loves being able to double major. She loves UB as a school. I asked her on our drive home in May, given all the choices she had, did she feel UB was the right one, and she said absolutely yes. So I’m happy she feels that way.
As to Brockport, she did not audition there. We visited the campus and she did not even want to audition. I think you are thinking of SUNY Geneseo,where she auditioned for the dance minor, and was accepted. She did not like ANYTHING about the dance program,the facilities, or the professors who held the audition.
I have heard good things about Brockport’s program, D just didn’t like the “feel” of the campus so chose not to audition.</p>

<p>Deloar, I would highly recommend Muhlenberg. Both of our daughters visited, took a dance class, auditioned, were accepted, and really enjoyed the time they spent there. The overall school just was not as good a fit for either as the schools they chose (Elon University for MT major and UB for Dance/Asian Studies double major).
As to SUNY Fredonia, one of our sons graduated from there a couple of years ago, in communications, and loved his four years there. I would caution you, however, that as an upstate NY resident, who has two dancer daughters, I have NEVER heard Fredonia mentioned as a school for dance. Music yes, dance no.
I’ll also put in a plug for Elon. D1 is MT rising junior and also a very involved dancer. She loves everything about Elon’s dance classes and has taken four classes every semester so far (yes, she’s very busy). Ballet, jazz, modern, tap, even hip-hop she is scheduled to take this semester. BFA dance major is available, as well as a dance minor.</p>

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<p>deloar,
If the East coast is not out of the question, and if your daughter would settle for dance technique classes mostly in ballet and modern, she might find a home at Goucher. They offer performance and non-performance majors (minors too, I think) with no restrictions (other than skill) in what dance classes you take. All are eligible to audition for performances, and lots of guest artists do residencies. Double majors are quite common. And I believe they have Division III soccer.</p>

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<p>

Whoops! Sorry, nydancemom - you’re right, I did confuse Brockport with Geneseo. I knew there was one program your d found really disappointing. Sorry, deloar - please disregard my earlier comment and chalk it up to advancing age and too many SUNYs. :D</p>

<p>nydancemom, so glad to hear your d is happy at UB! I often think of her, and have recommended the school to several kids with similar talents and interests. She had so many choices last year (I truly think she was the only senior I knew of who had all acceptances) - it’s nice for all of you that she knows she chose the right one.

Agreed it must be very true if she’ll admit it! But remember that the other girls at her home studio always acknowledged that she had the best technique. And you know that isn’t something we’d have heard from them (including my own) unless it was really true and really obvious, too. :)</p>

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<p>Everyone, thanks for all these comments. They are very helpful.</p>

<p>We visited Fredonia. They just shifted from a dance minor to a major 3 years ago. They are weak on facilities, but there are plans for major expansion, probably not complete though for about 5 years. We really liked the conversation with the prof and the description of the dept.</p>

<p>Buffalo has been put on our list. Its a little over 3 hours from us. The only negative I’ve heard about Buffalo is that their campus isn’t so hot.</p>

<p>We have had Goucher and Elon somewhat on the list. D1 visited Goucher when she was looking. We will probably visit there. Elon is a question for us. We hear a lot of good stuff about it overall and the dance dept. Also, I am a minister with the denomination it is related to. The question has been about transportation. Its over 7 hrs from our place. nydancemom, how has that worked for you? Also, how does the dept look for dance if you are not MT oriented?</p>

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<p>Deloar, We live in upstate NY, so about 11 hours from Elon. We drive usually, but D flies back and forth on breaks with no problem. Greensboro airport is about 35 minutes from Elon and Raleigh Durham is about 45 minutes. Elon runs shuttles to either, but they are expensive and they only run at breaks and have to be booked in advance. We used this service once, at beginning of freshman year. We have also used a car service a couple of times, which isn’t too bad if the kids can find a friend who is flying at a similar time so can share the cost. It is expensive. I think $75 to Greensboro or $90 to RDU if I’m remembering correctly. Mostly my D has been easily able to find rides to the airport with friends who have cars. She gives them money for gas. Many kids at Elon have cars, even freshmen. Elon has want ads on its website, so kids can post looking for rides on there. My D has also sent out mass emails to her department (as do many others) and has been able to find a ride that way. She has even had some of her professors respond and offer rides since some of them live in Greensboro. But yes, it isn’t completely convenient to have our D so far away. But it was where she wanted to be more than anything, so we’ve made it work.</p>

<p>As to the dance department, it is a BFA in dance, or a dance minor. They offer 6 levels of ballet, 4 levels of jazz, 6 levels of modern, 3 levels of tap, plus various “special topics” each semester. For example this fall the three special topics are hip hop, Fosse jazz, and pointe. There are also yoga, worship dance, choreography, dance history, etc. There is a fall dance ensemble, by audition, as well as the same in spring. There is a fall dance performance outside (this was new last year), there is a student group called danceworks which performs in the spring, there is senior seminar, which non-majors can audition for and be chosen to perform in pieces choregraphed by senior dance majors. My D has been chosen for almost all of these activities over the last two years, and she isn’t a dance major. But she dances like one (LOL) so has had many opportunities to perform, not only in MT, but in dance. Most of the MT majors are not involved in these dance performances, they are typical dance performances ranging from ballet, pointe, lots of modern, and jazz. Oh, there is even a fairly new tap show in the spring with only tap numbers.</p>

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<p>Hi I am also a mother I have a daughter the loves dance she wants to go to the U.of the arts and major in dance and she wants to take marketing.If anyone knows a bout the U.of the arts I wish you would let me know I am using her page.
help me !!! I just don’t know.</p>

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<p>How many moms out there are having a hard time ? Ashley wants to look at howard because she is working and worked her last 2 years in high school.I can see her point about wanting to keep her job.Because it is bad out there.But I think that because she is a hard liner when it comes to dance that U.arts would be better for her.We will be going up there soon.I think she will be happy about that.</p>

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<p>My daughter was accepted at U. of Arts last winter and we visited the school seperately from the audition. It is located in a nice part of Philly, and the dance facilities and studios are wonderful. The dorms were iffy, and there is no meal plan if that is a concern, so you daughter should be pretty independent. But the main reason she decided not to go, and maybe this should been obvious but it wasn’t until we visited, is that all the students are students of the arts (not that arts students aren’t great kids, they are of course), and she realized she wanted an education in dance at a more fully liberal arts school. Now she has her dance class friends and her friends in other academic disciplines. Just my two cents.</p>

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<p>I know several dance majors and graduates at U of Arts. I recommend the program very highly. The training in ballet, modern, and musical theater is top notch. Very nurturing environment, great facilities, wonderful location, excellent dancers, fine teachers. If my D were to major in dance, I would start (and hopefully end) with U of Arts. (by the way, I am a dance teacher with an MFA).</p>

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<p>I know the last post on here was three years ago, but I have a question. What about hip hop? My daughter is mainly interested in studying hip hop. Are there any colleges which offer hip hop as a regular dance option and not just a special elective offered sometimes?</p>

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<p>My daughter is at UArts right now and just finished a 5-week hip hop section of her Modern/Jazz class (4 days a week). In addition, there is a weekly hip hop class that can be added as an elective. My daughter said the hip hop class really kicked her butt and was legitimate street hip hop, not the funky jazz you see at most studios.</p>

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<p>I love to dance but I don’t know if I’d go into it for college</p>

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<p>Hey! I’m currently a sophomore majoring in Commercial Dance at Pace University in NYC. In response to your post, I’ve not heard of any Unifieds for dance programs, but honestly, I recommend that your daughter looks into our BFA program! Pace’s Dance Program is built on ballet and jazz, but we have to take other styles of dance too (tap, jazz, hip hop, modern, etc…). With our BFA, you can declare a specific focus in either Performance, Pedagogy, or Choreography. Each focus has its own set of classes that come along with it. As far as the audition experience goes, there’s a ballet, jazz, tap, and hip hop portion. Which I found refreshing sense most programs only audition with ballet and modern. If you have any questions, please feel free to ask me!</p>

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<p>Hey! To ohiodancer5678, when you auditiioned for Pace, did you audition in NYC? My daughter will do her audition there and she’s wondering about how many people are at the audition. I’m assuming its alot, but we’re just looking for some info. on the whole audition process before she goes. Thanks.</p>