<p>[Their</a> Chance to Dance](<a href=“http://www.roosevelt.edu/News_and_Events/News_Articles/RR/FA2013/Dance.aspx]Their”>http://www.roosevelt.edu/News_and_Events/News_Articles/RR/FA2013/Dance.aspx)</p>
<p>My daughter is conflicted as to which emphasis to choose. Because it’s new there was no good information about the difference. She loves dance and learns quickly but hasn’t had years and years of training. From the information I did find it looked like the dance emphasis was for those students with tons of training but the article makes it seem like that’s not necessarily the case. Now that the program is up and running can anyone confirm for me that many years of training isn’t necessary?</p>
<p>I don’t know anything about CCPA except what I have read, so I am sure that someone in the program or who has a child in the program will be able to give you much better advice, but while the article makes it sound like not everyone has years and years of dance experience, the website states: “Students interested in the Dance Emphasis track should already have a strong dance background and be at an intermediate to advanced level of Ballet and Jazz technique.” That makes it sound like to be competitive at least some dance is required.</p>
<p>It is interesting that of the 17 people in the inaugural class, it looks like there are only 2 boys. Anyone know how many people they take in each class for the Voice Emphasis? It seems like a slightly bigger program than some.</p>
<p>That’s the thing. What the website says doesn’t quite sound like either article, really. My daughter has years of dance instruction since she was a toddler just not straight through all those 15 years. As Mr. Perez said dance is definitely needed for a career in MT and my daughter wants a program with strong dance to further advance her skills.</p>
<p>My D is a freshman in the MT Voice program. I have asked another CC mom whose D is in the new Dance program to log on and help answer your questions.</p>
<p>There are 27 voice, 17 dance and 13 acting BFA students. Don’t know how many they accepted to obtain this number. They did say they did not require a set ratio of boys to girls, so there are more girls in the program. But yes there are more students in theatre than at other BFA programs. They do have guaranteed casting for each semester, however. Freshman year there is a Fall Freshman Showcase and in the spring there are separate showcases for the freshmen MT Voice, MT Dance and acting majors. Then students enter the general casting pool. All students audition for all productions.</p>
<p>As upperclassmen they are also allowed (with prior approval) to audition for shows in Chicago. (D and her classmates have been to see a junior MT major in Spamalot). </p>
<p>As far as the difference in the programs, my D has been in dance since she was a toddler, too (on the school dance team, etc.) but chose the voice program. There is a dance call taught by Luis for Voice and Acting audition, but the Dance audition is separate and I imagine, more challenging. As freshman all take voice, dance and acting classes. D was able to “test out” of beginning classes and is in intermediate dance. I believe the dancers take an extra dance class and the voice take an extra MT voice class. As juniors and seniors, there is more specialization. However the overall philosophy of the school is to prepare the kids to audition in the real world in all 3 disciplines.</p>
<p>You should be able to pull up the curriculum on the website and compare. Also I will ask my D. Hope this helps, and others come on board with more answers!</p>
<p>Thanks, austinmt! I actually sent an email the other week asking for the curriculum for each, but was told that dance isn’t online yet since it’s so new. After reading the article, my thought is that my daughter can probably handle the dance for the audition and the program will be more in line with what she is seeking. Because we didn’t know much about the dance emphasis program, she just didn’t know which to pick. She applied with voice emphasis, but I imagine that she can change it.</p>
<p>And here’s another question about something I thought I read somewhere. Can MT students audition for plays? I thought I read that MTs can only do musicals. My daughter does both now and enjoys both, so I was curious about that.</p>
<p>Thank you!!! I really appreciate that you have contacted other people to help answer my question.</p>
<p>Just this year they changed the audition policy and now all students may (may be required to…) audition for all shows (musicals and plays). My D was very happy about that. She actually auditioned for both acting and MT programs at schools that would allow it. I wonder if you D would be able to audition for both Voice and Dance?</p>
<p>Okay, spoke with D. This year the dance majors take both ensemble singing (1st semester) and have private voice (2nd semester freshman thru senior year) but instead of a 4 hour voice lab on Fridays, they have a 4 hour dance lab. Also Dance majors take both ballet and jazz freshman year but voice majors only take ballet. So basically Dancers take more dance and Voice takes more voice but both take a lot of each. Plus there are Saturday dance classes available as well (ie D could have taken a jazz class on Saturday, but she was already taking 18 hours, so would have had to pay for it–I think). Voice majors take ballet (freshman yr), jazz (soph), modern (junior) and tap (senior) plus conditioning every year.</p>
<p>My D said “Tell her not to sweat it, she can probably audition for both if she asks, plus once she’s in school here it is possible to change from voice to dance or vice versa!” One of her friends has already changed from voice to dance so she could have more dance without having to pay extra for additional classes on the weekend.</p>
<p>THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU to you and your daughter! YES to the audition change! It’s sounding more and more like dance will be the way to go for her and she would be able to still get private voice lessons! YAY!! Thank you again, austinmt!!!</p>
<p>Thanks for all the info austinmt! My S is still a Junior so won’t be applying until next year, but he loves dance as well as MT, so he is very interested in this program. I am also glad to hear that it sounds like even though there are a lot of MT and acting majors compared to some other schools, that there are still plenty of performance opportunities to go around. And GSOMTMom, glad that your D got the info she needed and is ready to take the plunge and do the audition change. Break legs!</p>
<p>One other question i had and couldn’t seem to find on the website is what the crew requirements are for MT majors. They mention them in several places, but not what they are, so I was just curious how onerous they were. austinmt, do you happen to know?</p>
<p>Thanks again for all the helpful info!</p>
<p>Hi, Zebrarunner, my son is a freshman acting major at CCPA/Roosevelt. They get to pick their tech assignments, and he chose hanging lights, so his tech is fairly concentrated right before shows (not on an ongoing basis during them). He is also doing scene construction for his work study and maxing out his hours (12 per week) and learning a ton about carpentry and set design. He is absolute loving it and is very busy but not in an overwhelming or bad way. (He still had time to go to all his classes, do his homework and see Wicked AND Cyrano de Bergerac for free last week.)</p>
<p>Basically they have 30 hours of required tech work outside of class each semester and like JKellynh says, they got to pick this semester. D is doing costume construction. She reports to the costume room when she has a free hour or two, picks a job off the list and does it. I imagine as the semesters go by they will have to choose different assignments and end up with experience in all of them. They also have a 4 hour tech lab class every Friday afternoon where they are rotating through all the tech jobs.</p>
<p>Plus all the performing arts students are required to attend at least one performance of each show. D has really enjoyed seeing the upper classmen do their stuff!</p>
<p>And they do have some free time! They all got free tickets to a matinee of Once a few weeks ago and CCPA cancelled classes so they could attend! D just loves that kind of thing about going to school in Chicago!</p>
<p>Hi,
My daughter is in the dance emphasis program at Roosevelt. She has ballet and Jazz this semester and does and additional ballet class on saturdays with Luis Perez. Next Semester she has ballet, tap and jazz. As dance emphasis students they start in the Intermediate/Advanced level. My daughter has danced extensively since she was 3 years old, so she really wanted a program where her dance training would continue and not stay stagnant. She did have group voice lessons this first semester, but was also allowed to take (and pay extra) for private voice lessons. The program is now listed on their website with the classes they will take throughout their four years. I don’t see the dance classes or privat voice listed, but they are part of the program.</p>
<p>[Degree</a> Information](<a href=“http://www.roosevelt.edu/Catalog/Undergraduate/Degree.aspx?ID=399]Degree”>http://www.roosevelt.edu/Catalog/Undergraduate/Degree.aspx?ID=399)</p>
<p>My daughter loves the program and all of the instructors, she is in awe of their level of talent, experience and expertise. They do try to admit approx. 25 students to each of the 3 disciplines in theatre, however, the numbers vary based on the students/talent that auditions. After being accepted to 7 programs, my daughter narrowed her search down to 3 schools. One was ruled out because of distance and finances. After attending the other 2 colleges and taking a dance and acting class at both, she immediately choose Roosevelt. We both felt a strong vibe of energy from both the students and instructors at Roosevelt. Plus with the benefits of being in Chicago, she has been able to see “The Book of Mormon” and “Once” tours in Chicago, been invited to a ballet performance/Gala, and seen free dance concerts in Millenium Park. She is surrounded by the arts and taking it all in. </p>
<p>Students do vary in talent level in the dance emphasis, but most have quite a bit of previous training.</p>
<p>Please feel free to ask any questions and I will do my best to find out the answers through my daughter.</p>
<p>Thanks for the info and for posting the curriculum link (I HEART all of the helpful parents on this forum). Based on what austinmt’s daughter said, she’ll audition as voice emphasis…at least that’s what she said yesterday. It could always change! :)</p>