Daughter is a junior and we are looking at colleges that offer classes and performing opportunities in ballet, modern, jazz, musical theatre. She’s on pointe now. Does not want a conservatory. Have the Dance Magazine guide but it’s not as useful as I had hoped. GPA 3.9 and just taking tests but expect high verbal, average math. Undecided major but inclined to history, social justice, languages, and maybe musical theatre management side (like marketing/PR, not stage management. We are in VT so am looking Northeast, mid-Atlantic, PA, Ohio, Illinois. Not sports or Greek oriented. Thanks for any ideas!
Skidmore, Connecticut, Barnard (if scores are good), Wheaton, Goucher, Eugene Lang/New School (if she wants big city) . . .
Thanks!
One of the things she may find is that courses for non majors may be more basic than she wants. CWRU has dance courses for non majors but they are rather basic. Miami of Ohio has its own dance company (called The Miami University Dance Theater) and does not offer a major. They offer a minor but that is not a prerequisite to be in the company. It is by audition.
Are you interested in a double-major at all? My daughter visited Case and the dance prof assured her that the dance majors were double-majors in something else, as parents don’t want to pay that much tuition for just a dance degree! Similarly, a dance friend of hers is doing dance and STEM at WVU.
I know Barnard has ballet and modern offerings at all levels including pointe classes for ballet. I think students pretty much self-place – they come to the class that they think will be the right level for the first class-- if it seems too basic, then they shift to a higher level; too challenging, then they can shift to a lower level. Of course the instructor has a say in that too. I know my daughter only took advanced-level courses. She was a very experienced dancer but not a dance major and only ended up taking a handful of dance courses over the years. It’s a common experience that once in college as a non-dance major, the interest in dance tends to wane as students become involved in other activities. Of course some students do maintain their interest. But no difference in course availability for majors vs. non-majors.
Thanks for the advice! She has said that she would also be happy just being involved with a student ensemble, but it’s I feel like it’s trickier to identify those schools than to just search by major. We are going to visit a few schools and I think she can take a class at Barnard so that will be a good process for her. Keep the ideas coming!