<p>Hi
I am a sophomore in high school and I am JUST starting to begin to think about colleges. I plan on starting visits this summer and all throughout junior year. I am a serious dancer and I go to a very prestigious private school. I know this sounds SO pretentious. I don't mean it to be but I just want to give all the information possible! I really hope to continue to dance in college. I don't know I want to major in dance but I definitely want to at least minor in dance. I really want to go to the best school that I can (top tier) and I am having a hard time finding schools with reputable dance program and academic record. So far the schools I have found are:
- Bucknell University
- Duke University
- George Washington University
- University of Michigan
- New York University
- Northwestern University
- University of Virginia
- University of Richmond</p>
<p>Has anyone heard anything about these programs (good or bad?)
What other schools have good dance programs?
Any info is helpful! Thanks!</p>
<p>Barnard College and Bard College too. Barnard esp. for ballet and Bard for mixture of ballet & modern. Also Connecticut College which has an excellent modern dept.</p>
<p>Make sure that when you contact and visit schools you make it very clear that you do not intend to major in dance. Many, perhaps most, good (selective) dance programs are for majors only. The courses offered for non majors often meet less often (once or twice/week rather than every day) and are usually taught by TA’s, not faculty. Also, performance opportunities may be available only to majors. Minors may or may not be possible. Sometimes kids take class outside the U but with some sort of agreement (or not) between the dance school and the U, example, Princeton kids take at Princeton Ballet. Also, dance may be taught in more than one department: dance, PE, theater… Some schools have good programs in different departments. By the way, do check out Sarah Lawrence.</p>
<p>When doing the college search with our daughter we always made arrangements ahead of our visit for her to take a class in each school’s highest level ballet class. They were always gracious in allowing her to participate and gave her a good feel for the programs. I highly recommend that you do this. Of the schools on your list, we only visited Duke and NYU. NYU did not work for her because it did not look easy to combine dance with her intended academic major. She liked Duke a lot and almost went there. I believe they had Alonzo King there for a few weeks this year which she would have loved as she had previously done a summer intensive with his Lines Ballet.</p>
<p>If you do not want to major in dance you may also want to consider schools that have excellent extracurricular (as opposed to academic) dance programs. My daughter is very happy with the dance program at Harvard. She is a member of the Harvard Ballet Company which gives her plenty of performance opportunities. A number of the students in HBC go on to professional dance careers (one just got hired by ABT) or are taking a break from their careers to go to college. Between rehearsals and technique classes she is in the studio almost every day. Instructors are excellent (from Boston Ballet, etc.). While there is no major (concentration in Harvard speak) in dance, they do have a few academic classes in dance. She is currently taking one in Ailey technique taught by two members of Alvin Ailey. In all, she is able to continue to dance at a very high level while pursuing her other academic interests also at the highest level.</p>
<p>The dance program at UVA is fairly new; it’s housed in the drama department, which has very nice facilities. The faculty seem high quality and the dance students I’ve met enthusiastic about the program. However, the ones I know are doing it as a minor–often with a major in a completely different field–not with the idea of dancing as a career. This is also true in UVA’s other arts departments–many of the music majors, for instance, go to med or law school.</p>
<p>Check out Mason Gross at Rutgers University - where you have the option of going for your BFA or BA in dance. There are lots of advantages to going to a large university with a conservatory like program in dance. </p>
<p>The dance program at Mason Gross School of the Arts fosters excellence in modern dance technique, performance, and creative achievement. An accomplished dance faculty of artist-educators ensures expert instruction in technique, performance, choreography, and theoretical studies. </p>
<p>Goucher College in Baltimore, MD. Amazing dance department. It’s often overlooked because the school is rather small, but the department is incredible. Check it out:</p>
<p>One of my dd’s friends is double majoring in dance and international business as well as a minor at George Washington. Crazy I know. She is a very proficient dancer and she is very happy with program there and cant wait to start in the fall. I would look into their progam. She also got a very large scholarship for dance and academics.</p>
<p>The Ivy-League schools have not traditionally had strong dance departments however recently with Susan Marshall as chair at Princeton and former NYCB dancers leading the program at Harvard, the landscape has changed somewhat. Most schools now have some dance and if it is not your primary focus, you may want to go for your strongest schools in your primary area and then come back and decide from within the ones you are accepted in. What is it you hope to do with a minor in dance?</p>
<p>have high level ballet classes:
Barnard
Butler
Dickinson
Goucher
Hobart & William Smith
Mt Holyoke
Smith
Skidmore
Vassar
Wash Univ St Louis
Duke
Muhlenberg a possibility</p>
<p>within reasonable distance of a ballet program or company:
Macalester (in the same city block!)
Fordham
Univ of San Francisco
Mills
Vanderbilt
Columbia (next to Barnard)
Scripps/the Claremont Colleges</p>
<p>you may want to purchase the new edition of Dance Magazine College Guide now available however this is geared toward dance majors. If departments allow a minor, classes are not necessarily with dance majors and not offered daily.</p>
<p>Note re post #12 above: Columbia’s dance program IS at Barnard. Columbia students can and do register for dance (and other) classes through Barnard. In fact, Columbia’s dance major (and other majors, such as Architecture) is housed at Barnard.</p>
<p>Because most of the schools you mentioned are more contemporary/modern in their dance offerings.</p>
<p>SECOND question: How advanced are you? There may not be a college program challenging enough for your needs.</p>
<p>If you want both, and are a disciplined person, I advise you to go to a top academic school in a place like New York City, where you can take the finest dance classes in the world at under $ 20 a pop, only a subway ride away. That’s not gonna happen in Charlottesville.</p>
<p>If you are interested in modern dance, you should check out liberal arts colleges in New England. the NESCAC schools are considered the “Little Ivies” and some of them have great dance programs. Middlebury, CT College, and Wesleyan are all excellent programs. Also, Colby and Bates have newer programs that are really great. I am a sophomore at Colby and plan to pursue dance in some way. I feel that the department will thoroughly prepare me for this! Let me know if you have any questions!!</p>
<p>Dance Magazine publishes an annual College Guide which provides a comprehensive list of all the colleges offering dance programs. Be sure you know what you are looking for, as we have found that many colleges offer dance programs to all its students, regardless of any prior training or some only offer dance minors, etc. The College Guide is a very good resource for anyone interested in some form of dance at the college level.</p>
<p>We have tried to focus on colleges with dance majors that have an affiliation with a professional company and only found two - Fordham University (affiliation with Alvin Ailey) and Dominican University of California (affiliation with Alonzo King LINES Ballet) </p>
<p>My daughter is highly trained and looking to pursue her education not only to earn a liberal arts degree (likely a BFA) but also to further her training to prepare her for a potential professional career. With that being said, she has set her sights high and won’t even consider other colleges that offer general dance programs. Her top three choices have a ballet/modern emphasis - Juilliard, Fordham and Dominican U of C. She has also applied to Pace, which has a commercial dance major.</p>
<p>I am worried that she has only applied to four schools, since her chances would be greater with more applications, but she wouldn’t consider applying elsewhere. So far has been invited to 3 auditions, so time will tell!</p>