College or university near city/strong science and dance

<p>I am helping my sister's daughter (junior) identify some colleges and universities. She is a very strong science student currently at a performing arts school so she can dance. She would like a school near or in a city, with a strong science department and good dancing (ballet). She enjoys the nurturing atmosphere of her current school and I suspect would do best in a college or university with a nurturing environment. She is in the CTY program and a strong student. Merit money would be a bonus and something she will be encouraged to pursue. So far I thought - Barnard, Smith, Carelton. Suggestions or comments? Thanks!</p>

<p>I suggest you post this on the parents forum as well. You will get a wealth of good suggestions from experienced adults there.</p>

<p>Look at the Claremont Colleges, five liberal-arts colleges located in the suburbs of Los Angeles but literally across the street from each other. All of them are small and provide a nurturing environment. Each college's science departments are great, but IMO Pomona offers the most. There are a lot of dance-related activities offered at all the colleges (Pomona even has a "dance center"). And I think the ballroom dance team that has students from all the colleges placed first in the nation or something...</p>

<p>On a larger scale, consider Northwestern. Dance major and minor available through the School of Communications, across the board strength in the sciences, half-hour by El from a multitude of Chicago dance venues.</p>

<p>School</a> of Communication at Northwestern University :: Dance :: Undergraduate</p>

<p>here's my prior post on schools with the strongest dance/ballet we found. There aren't that many so you can easily whittle down yourself from this point for city and science.</p>

<p><a href="http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/arts-majors/291713-academics-dance-ballet.html%5B/url%5D"&gt;http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/arts-majors/291713-academics-dance-ballet.html&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p>

<p>Goucher College in Baltimore (although for their dance majors and minors, you have to take modern as well as ballet).</p>

<p>Or, if it's just to dance and not necessarily major in it, Johns Hopkins students can dance at Peabody Conservatory's dance program.</p>

<p>Vassar also has a very strong ballet program, but it's neither a major nor a minor - just classes. My d took a class there that was taught by a member of the American Ballet Theater.</p>

<p>What about Bard, Wesleyan, Oberlin? Those are the schools I think of as taking intellectualism and performing arts hand-in-hand. A CTY person would fit in easily there.</p>

<p>I would think about Fordham U as a safety-- it's an excellent school with a strong focus on the liberal arts, and they offer a dance program at their Lincoln Center campus and has a partnership with Alvin Ailey.</p>

<p>Fordham is not strong in ballet - Ailey is a modern company. It is an audition-only program, and I believe only offers a BFA. The rigors of a BFA make double-majoring or taking science classes very difficult.</p>

<p>I have no idea what they have there, but a friend of my son's who is into dance and science went to Purdue. I know that is not a a big city atmosphere but it isn't far from Chicago.</p>

<p>I second the Claremont suggestion (<a href="http://www.claremont.edu)%5B/url%5D"&gt;www.claremont.edu)&lt;/a>, particularly Scripps and Pomona. The on-campus dance programs are quite strong (from what I hear, they're generally underrated and must be visited to be truly appreciated), as are the science programs at all of the colleges. Both Scripps and Pomona have dance departments, although students at any of the colleges can take the classes or major through the departments (and Scripps students can take class at Pomona, and vice versa). Both programs are modern-based, although Pomona offers more ballet. In general, I've heard more positive reviews about the Scripps faculty and program, although (a) I'm biased, (b) There's enough cooperation between the two departments that differences are minor.</p>

<p>Scripps in particular really values "interdisciplinality," so the dance/science combination--whether just a combination of interests or an actual combination of degrees--would be welcome. I knew of one Dance/Kinesiology, one Dance/Biochem (formerly a student from a performing arts HS), one Dance/Bio, and one Dance/Engineering student (plus a number of Dance students with other non-science degrees). </p>

<p>I can think of at least 3-4 Claremont dancers with professional ballet experience who've been happy with the Claremont dance programs. The Inland Pacific Ballet's main theatre is on Pomona's campus, so Claremont students can buy discounted tickets to performances. The company also takes student apprentices.</p>

<p>As a slight aside, and as an above poster suggested, ballroom dance is also pretty popular in Claremont. There are a lot of ballroom classes offered through the PE department, plus two audition-only teams. The touring team is...I've lost track...5-6 time national champion of its division, at least. </p>

<p>Claremont is in an urban-y suburban environment. That is, if you're used to stereotypical suburbia, the surrounding area has a rather urban feel to it. But if you're used to SoCal, then it feels quiet and suburban. Regardless, LA is quite accessible (not somewhere you'd want to travel on a nightly basis, but easy to get to once in awhile). I do know of at least one Scripps student who goes into LA regularly for dance. The schools also sponsor pretty regular trips into the city for various events (one year, I went with them to see Matthew Bourne's Nutcracker at the Pantages ;)).</p>

<p>Anyway, I focused on talking up the dance programs because info on the science departments is easier to come by. But the point is that if your niece is willing to look at the west coast, Claremont represents 1/10 of the country's top 50 LAC's and might be worth a glance :)</p>

<p>ETA: I believe that all 5 of the colleges meet 100% of demonstrated financial need. I don't think that Pomona offers need-blind merit money. Scripps does, mostly through the James E. Scripps (JES) half-tuition Scholarship (quite competitive, but there are a fair number awarded each year).</p>

<p>Two years ago, there was not a serious ballet program at the Claremont Colleges. This was confirmed by dancers, by direct observation of the “most advanced” ballet class offered–low intermediate level–and by the dance faculty at Pomona. We were told the Claremont College program emphasized modern dance and did not have daily technique classes, and that a serious dancer would need to take class at Inland Pacific Ballet. (Transportation would be needed.)</p>

<p>She might look into Duke or Washington U in St Louis</p>

<p>Daughter has a friend who will attend the University of Cincinnati as a ballet major (College-Conservatory of Music) and minor in forensic science…</p>

<p>This may be too late (past May 1 deadline), but Bard is expanding their dance program – Bill T Jones, a NYC-based company, will be in residence at Bard starting this fall.</p>

<p>John Meehan, former director of ABTII will be joining the faculty at Vassar next year to head the Vassar Repetory Dance Theater. Jean Czula, a former ballet dancer heads the dance department and teaches a challenging ballet class. There is no Dance Major at Vassar which is a plus if you want to perform but Major in something else, and you can take ballet for credit. The dance facilities including studios and a theater were renovated a few years ago and are beautiful.</p>