<p>I just posted this on a thread on the main page. I thought I might as well post it here as well for others wondering about the dance at Elon.</p>
<p>I don’t weigh in here often, but I feel I could put my two cents worth in on the dance offered at Elon. My daughter is a Sophomore MT there and is a fairly strong dancer, especially in tap. She has, though, grown tremendously as a dancer at Elon. She has been able to develop an interest in choreography there as well, which she never had time for in HS. Over Christmas Break I let her choreograph for a few solos I had started at the studio I own, where she grew up dancing, and she had lots of new ideas. She cannot say enough about how fabulous the dance classes are at Elon!! There are several terrific instructors and thus a lot of options for classes and different styles of dance. My daughter transferred there last January from another school but has already taken 7 dance classes. She just can’t squeeze enough of them into her schedule and is actually hoping to earn a dance minor as well, with the MT. MT’s can also audition for the Dance Concert and she will be in a jazz and tap piece for that show. She truly loves all aspects of the Elon program!!! I can’t believe the growth and confidence that has blossomed there, not just in dance but especially in Voice and Acting too. The classes seem intense but the instructors are nurturing and caring. She has made many great friends in the dept. and many seem to do a lot together outside of class as well. She is constantly learning new material, developing acting scenes, practicing songs and auditioning, not just for the dept. shows but for workshops/master classes, various theater companies that come to campus and now singing every week in a performance class. So often, she has said “if I knew then what I know now, I would never even have considered much less gone to the other school”! At any rate, if you are looking for the opportunity to continue to grow in or get better at dance as well as voice and acting…definitely put Elon on your list! If you want more information feel free to email me. </p>
<p>PS: It does seem that there are some kids that went to Elon for the BA in Theater or Dance and have reauditioned for the MT program once there for a semester or two. My daughter said that some have been accepted in the program. Even if you are not in MT, I believe you are able to take voice lessons, though it is probably extra.</p>
<p>Showmom, Thanks for commenting on Elon's dance. My daughter loves it there but wonders about the level of the academics. Does your daughter feel challenged outside of MT? Did she have other schools as choices that were more difficult to get in academically? Can you talk about that? My D is very well rounded and wondered abou the opportunities to do other things outside of MT (time). Thanks for taking the time to comment.</p>
<p>In all honesty, my daughter is more interested in the classes that go with the MT major and those classes are not a cakewalk! The various acting classes, voice, music theory and performance class require a lot of outside preparation and research and are very challenging. She was even writing papers in her Jazz dance class last semester. They must however, take many liberal arts courses, in addition to the ones within the dept. I know she has already taken health, statistics, global studies and writing and is taking religion now. There are also language, science and history requirements as well and you have a choice of what to fill those with. If you have AP or College level courses that fill requirements she may be able to add other classes outside MT and the liberal arts core. There might be something on the Performing Arts website that lists everything or I would talk to Cathy McNeela, she is great and very approachable. Ericsmom, who posts here is a good one to ask. I think her Freshman son was a HS Valedictorian and is in the Elon Fellows Program, an Honors Program there. Good luck and feel free to email me.</p>
<p>I would second everything Showmom has posted about the dance and other performing arts classes at Elon. In ALL areas of performance, my son feels that he has really grown in the short time he has been there. He, too, has taken many dance classes and loves all the teachers.</p>
<p>Elon is quite challenging in liberal arts courses and is also hard to get into academically (not on the level of Ivy Leagues but harder than many other schools we are familiar with). We've known of quite a few students who did not get accepted academically. </p>
<p>I believe that all the academic classes are very challenging (and quite a few are required for the MT major), and one can supplement that with the Honors or Fellows programs, although at this point for next year, it's probably too late if you have not already been through the application and interview process.</p>
<p>I believe that on one of the other threads (maybe the Elon main thread) Soozievt answered a question recently for Defying Gravity about the academic acceptance statistics at Elon.</p>
<p>Feel free to send me an e-mail if you have additional questions.</p>