Can you do Musical Theater major with no prior dance experience?

College Majors Musical Theater Major
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I thought we were past this, but last night my DD’19 brought up again that she still would like to major in musical theater. She likes to do it, and was Audrey as a sophomore in LSOH, but it’s a small rural school with not a lot of competition. There won’t be another musical until senior year. She doesn’t do musical theater outside of school, has had only a handful of voice lessons, and the extent of her dance training is Just Dance Wii. She is planning to stay in the Midwest for school, so maybe University of South Dakota, University of Nebraska Kearney, or possibly SEMO but that’s a bit far away. Maybe those programs aren’t too hard to get into, but still. Those are BFA, so it would be hard to work in a minor and therefore all eggs in one basket.

Is she crazy for considering it?

Her other thought is being a park naturalist!

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Hi @bjscheel I’m just going through this experience with S who is a senior, and I wouldn’t necessarily call myself an expert. That said - if she really wants to do this, I think anything is possible. I would recommend getting into classes/lessons now. She has 10-11 months before first auditions. I would also recommend doing a college based program during the summer if she can as this would probably help with determining if it’s what she REALLY wants. Getting a coach would be a good idea if you/she have no experience with auditioning outside of her school.

Where are you located? We’re in ND. Just found out that both UND and NDSU have BFA MT programs. We never even thought to look at them, and S doesn’t really want to be that close to home either. University of MN - Duluth has a BFA MT. University of MN has a well known theatre program - but not an MT major (they have an emphasis or certificate or something like that.) Drake in IA is also pretty well known. UW - Stephen’s point also has a MT program.

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@speezagmom We are in Iowa. She has a friend that went to Drake, that she really looked up to as far as music and theatre. That girl changed from MT to English after first semester when it turned out to be more intense than expected and I thought that made an impression on DD too. Drake is really expensive.

She also has a friend at AMDA in NYC. DD has said that the city/party life she sees with her via Snapchat story is not what she wants either. I don’t know how committed she would be to moving to LA or NYC. She doesn’t like cities. So I have misgivings about this as a career and whether to add cost and time of dance and a coach to her packed schedule.

When perusing lists of majors the only thing outside Theatre or Parks/Recreation that appealed was History.

My idea :slight_smile: is for her to get a 29 on ACT, go to UNK with automatic full tuition, and double major in History and Theater, with some voice lessons/whatever MT classes she can get into. Then she has some theatre and some voice, and history could come in handy for a number of jobs including maybe interpreter at a park service. But my suggestion will probably be rejected.

I will look for some college summer programs though. Good luck to your son!

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@KaMaMom is often on here and has a daughter who is thriving at Nebraska Wesleyan. I would search CC for her comments about that program. She loves it. That might be a good program to consider.

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I don’t have any input into the Musical Theatre part of your question but I can add some input into the “park naturalist” idea.

A park naturalist would need some sort of background in natural sciences - wildlife biology, environmental science, botany, forestry/natural resource management (both of which include a wide variety of classes in specific natural sciences - botany, wildlife biology, entomology, dendrology, hydrology, etc).

An Outdoor/Parks and Recreation degree might be useful, but I believe it is less science-y, and more devoted to teaching the administration of outdoor recreational opportunities, not teaching the science of nature.

So your daughter would need to consider whether she likes the thought of being involved in the administration of outdoor recreational activities (hiking, boating, camping, etc), or teaching people about nature (trees, birds, insects, wildflowers/plants, wildlife, etc).

A history degree would not be relevant for any “nature” oriented careers, but would be helpful for employment with state and federal park service. The US National Park service administers not only parks like Yellowstone/Yosemite, but also national historic monuments, sites, historic parks, military parks, etc. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_areas_in_the_United_States_National_Park_System

These positions usually require a history degree (or something similar) and because interaction with the public is a primary job requirement, someone with a theater background would most likely be very comfortable with the job duties. Some of the sites are indoors (President’s homes, etc), others cover large acreages and have an outdoor setting (Gettysburg battlefield, etc.) with the latter types possibly being more appealing to a lover of nature.

Hope that helps.

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@LeastComplicated awesome, thank you!

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Hiya!

Yep … my girl in now a junior at Nebraska Wesleyan, a BFA MT major and THRIVING. Loves it to pieces!

If you have any questions, please feel free to ask me here or send me a private message.

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@KaMaMom Hi! Glad to hear your daughter is doing so well! Did she already have good piano skills before attending?

I have emailed yesterday and today with the musical theatre department at UNK and they said no dance experience was needed- she would start in the beginner classes in that case. Audition is just singing.

Nebraska Wesleyan would be closer to home but IDK if we could afford it. One reason I’m really looking at UNK regardless of major choice is their automatic full tuition scholarship that is likely in reach for her.

I’m still scared of the idea of a MT major and finding a career. If only she could major in all of her interests!

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@bjscheel … NWU has a fairly decent automatic academic scholarship program based on GPA + SAT/ACT.

As for piano, she can plunk out a decent accompaniment I guess, but concert pianist she’s not. If your question is more on musicality and sight singing ability, she’s very good. There is no dance audition at Nebraska Wesleyan either - it’s monologue & 2 (I think!) 16-32 cuts. If you contact the department, you can most likely set up a private audition along with a day of sitting in MT, Acting & Dance classes.

As for finding work - per their website, 90% of 2014 grads were working in theatre. But from personal experience, A LOT of my kiddo’s friends from 2017 grad year are working in the theatre world.

Listen, I’m a big believer in arts kids finding their own way …will they all win Tony’s and become mega stars? Nope. But success in the arts, to me anyway, doesn’t mean having your name in lights on Broadway.