I am a senior and May 1st is coming up quickly! I want to major in dance. After many many auditions, I was accepted into the dance programs at Alvin Ailey / Fordham, Butler University, University of Cincinnati (CCM), SUNY Purchase, Alonzo King Lines / Dominican, Southern Methodist University, and Hartt. I think I have narrowed it down to a final three of Ailey, CCM, and Butler. I literally have no idea which school to pick.
I am classically trained in ballet, and going to a school with strong classical ballet is really important to me. However, I really love contemporary and want a very diverse program. I want a school with strong academics as well. I am interested in pursuing a double major (or a minor if double majoring is not allowed) in Business. Performance opportunities are also extremely important to me.
If anyone knows anything about any of these programs, please share your input. I am very conflicted because all the programs are so different and I feel like I do not know enough about any of them to make a decision.
I’ll give you my two cents worth as a dance dad. My daughter is a classically trained ballet dancer, but very strongly oriented toward Modern. She got accepted at SMU, Oklahoma, Rutgers, George Mason, Towson Indiana and Ailey Fordham. She passed on the SUNY Purchase audition because she really didn’t care for the campus. She passed on Butler and Cincinnati because they are primarily ballet, and she wanted a balance. The only two programs she didn’t get in were Lines/Dominican and NYU. We were really impressed with SMU’s campus, dance program. Truthfully, if she hadn’t gotten into Ailey, she would most likely have gone to Oklahoma because she fell in love with the campus. She just decided to go to Ailey Fordham, for a few reasons: 1. It’s New York, and Ailey has the strong name, network and reputation. 2. The program is challenging, both academically and dance-wise. 3. She likes being in the city, and it’s reasonably close to home so we can see her perform. 4. She’s attended their Summer Intensive, really loves the faculty, facilities, and she knows several of the dancers who are going there. Based on what I learned from our many visits, I can tell you that double majoring for Dancers is hard. Really hard. The schedule just does not allow a lot of flexibility to go above and beyond on academics. This applied to every school, however the more the school resembled a conservatory (NYU for example), the more they frowned on minoring and double-majoring was out of the question.
dancemajor2017, do you mind if I ask which school you chose?