I’m sure we’re not the only ones putting dance auditions on the calendar for this fall!
So far we have
Dancewave Oct 5-6
George Mason Oct 19
UNC-Greensboro Oct 26
U of Illinois Nov 8-9
Virginia Commonwealth Nov 15
Temple Dec 7
I have to say that this has really validated our decision to take a gap year and wait to audition. I can’t imagine doing all of these auditions (and we even crossed a few off the list!) while also trying to finish senior year and go to class and rehearsal.
I hope it goes well! That is an intense fall schedule. Hopefully you don’t have to fly to all of those!
Thankfully no!! NYC we are flying but also getting to have some NYC fun. Illinois is the farthest but also near family (it’s where I grew up). My dd and I are determined to have fun and enjoy all these trips!
I don’t miss the stress of auditions and all that but I do miss sharing those special times with my daughter. Enjoy!!!
@threegirlpileup It looks like Temple is auditioning at Dancewave again this year–if you are lucky maybe your dancer will get good news and you can take one trip off your fall schedule! Last year I recall them adding new auditioning schools as the event approached. Best of luck!
My daughter is signed up for an audition at Loyola Marymount in September and dance wave in October. She’ll be auditioning at Radford in November, most likely.
@calypte thanks, I hadn’t seen that! University of Illinois as well! That will definitely help…
Does anyone know if there is anything like Dance Wave for those of us on the West Coast, who simply can’t afford to fly to New York?
We found almost all of D’s schools offered auditions in LA (plus sometimes also SF) in Jan/Feb. The main problem was figuring out conflicts across the four to five weekends on which they were all concentrated. Starting mapping out dates now.
@NevrMynd51 I don’t think there is, but Twoin18 gave good advice in seeing which schools are coming to CA. When my daughter was auditioning I was worried about doing regional auditions vs. those held on campus but I don’t think I needed to be worried about that. I was concerned that they’d think a dancer not willing to travel would be somehow less committed to the school. But I don’t think that’s the case based on results I’ve seen here and with daughter’s friends who were also auditioning.
@Twoin18 you have been an absolutely life saver. Thank for all the help! @mom2adancer thank you as well. I have read through almost all the thread and you 2 have been very helpful.
@Twoin18 That, mapping out audition dates is the next step. We have been paring down the list of schools to those that my son can truly see himself at. Schools that are good for choreography and will allow, at the very least, him to minor if not double major. It’s amazing how many school actually frown up double majoring!
@NevrMynd51 I wonder if it depends on what the requirements for the BFA are. We actually sat down and looked up the information and realized there is a lot of variation–for some, it’s on the lower end, like 65/120 credits, but for some it’s over 90 out of 120. If the program is on the higher end, and even if you don’t have much in the way of general education requirements to fulfill, it’s hard to see how you’d fit in another major on top of the BFA requirements.
@threegirlpileup Would you mind sharing the programs that have lower credit requirements? My daughter had pretty much ruled out a BFA at looking at the higher requirements and fitting in a double major. I don’t think we saw any of the lower ones. TIA
“for some it’s over 90 out of 120. If the program is on the higher end, and even if you don’t have much in the way of general education requirements to fulfill, it’s hard to see how you’d fit in another major on top of the BFA requirements.”
I agree. Most BFAs appear to be in the 85 credit range. Then GEs are usually 20-30 on top. The shortest double majors may be 40-50, though 50-60 is common. So expect to need 150-160 credits in total even with some GE exemptions from APs, compared to an expected 120 over 4 years. That’s a whole extra year (which is what many BFA programs warn you to expect), or at the very least one summer plus overloading almost every semester for four years.
The studio time makes it hard to fit in the extra classes, unless there are a lot of online options you can take in the evenings (which is just about feasible since you don’t have much dance “homework” as such).
@Darcy123 a couple that are on the lower end are Towson and Adelphi. We also looked at James Madison, which is what they call an “intensive BA” which dd honestly dropped off her list because it didn’t seem intensive enough for her. But if you want a program that balances dance training with another academic major, it might be worth looking at.
@Darcy123 I found our actual list and noticed that another BFA program on the lower end credit-wise is Marymount Manhattan.
Just saw this thread. My daughter is a freshman at George Mason. She loves the dance program. It is intense. You will be able to get a minor but can’t double major.
@dkmm1973 great to hear! Any details about the program you’d like to share? Good, bad, and ugly?
My daughter is auditioning there in October!
I haven’t heard anything bad or ugly so far. They do dance a ton. Daughter was cast in 3 pieces the first week, so in addition to her dance classes she rehearses 4 nights per week. She wanted a program where she would be dancing a bunch and lots of opportunity to perform. Freshman audition right along with the upperclassmen and have the chance to be cast by the guest choreographers. It’s 100% up to the choreographer. They have an athletic trainer who only works with the dancers. Freshmen are evaluated by her. They then work up a plan to address any issues. They only take 20 dancers per year which is nice. You aren’t just a number there.
Sooo… she adjusted very easily and is loving it there. Good luck to your daughter as she navigates this process.