Can I Major In Dance?

I am going to be a high school senior in less than a year now, and I have around four things I want to major in, but I think you can only have one? If not, someone please tell me this. Anyways, I have never done actual dancing a day in my life, other than theatrical dance for theatre. I have always wanted to take dance classes, but we live in a small town and all the dance classes are far away. Everyone always tells me I should be a choreographer, because I have rhythm and beat, because I’m in choir and theatre, I’m a cheerleader, and color guard, so I have to have that. I used to always choreograph dances and show my friends and family, and they loved them. I wouldn’t necessarily call myself super flexible, but when I hear a song on the radio my mind immediately choreographs a dance to it. I also watch a lot of dance shows, but I still don’t know what each move is called. So, I guess I’m asking if it is possible for me to major in dance. I plan on taking tap and jazz dances in college, but I love contemporary and lyrical as well.

most dance majors are BFA’s or BA’s. Every program that my daughter is applying to are audition based. There are colleges where you can minor in dance. There are colleges that have open dance classes. Most programs are classical ballet, modern/contemporary and/or jazz. Not a lot of tap from what I’ve seen. Also, lyrical is not a recognized dance form. It is generally found in competition dance.

No, it is unlikely you could become a dance major without formal training. Look for schools that offer dance classes for non-majors, or explore the world of dance at a dance studio off campus.

Most dance programs require auditions. You might consider a dance minor. There are schools which offer beginner classes which assume no to little dance experience and also dance for non majors. My D is a Dance major at Ohio University. They offer a BA, BFA and 3 dance minors as well as courses for non Dance majors. You would need to talk to the Dance department and ask if they would consider someone on a probationary basis for a BA in dance if they seemed to have a natural strength in the discipline. What would be your motivation for being a Dance major? It is difficult for people who have danced most of their lives to get positions in Dance Companies. There are other career paths but most would require you being very proactive to find.

Actually, there are a lot of BA programs, particularly at smaller liberal arts schools, that do not require an audition.

I’m a dance minor at University of Richmond, and there is no audition there for the major, for example. So someone with no previous dance experience could theoretically complete the major. One issue would be that most of the beginning dance courses do not count towards the major or minor, only the intermediate and advanced technique courses do, so you’d have to take the beginning courses first before starting the ones that count towards the degree (although our major only requires 4 technique classes total from an approved list, so one could probably still complete it).

My recommendation would be to choose a school you like that has dance classes open to non-majors, and has a low bar or no audition for the major. Then, you could take the beginning technique classes before deciding if you truly want to major in it.

And yes, you can have more than one major. I’m a math and CS double major with minors in both music and dance. It can be difficult to double major with dance, depending on the curriculum. And if you’re in a BFA (which I don’t think you’d be able to do anyways given your lack of experience), it would most likely be dual degree, which very likely would take more than 4 years.