Dance major questions

College Majors Dance Major
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I’m really at a loss where to start this process with my student, who just finished Junior year of high school and has been dancing since age 3. I would be grateful for any info and advice!

What’s the difference between “dance” and “commercial dance”?

Why would someone wanting to be a professional dancer spend time studying it in college rather than audition for professional companies?

How time-consuming is a dance major? Is there time to do a double major?

How about college dance teams: Do they recruit like sports teams? How can students know if they’re in the ballpark for dance ability to make the team? Can prospective students contact the coach the way other athletes do? Is doing dance team while majoring in something non-dance a good compromise— student gets four more years of intense dance while also learning something else?

As you see, I need a lot of help!

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Commercial dance is more of the advertising or business side of dance. This major prepares you more to be employed as a dancer in music videos, tours, productions, etc. It’ll explore more “popular” types of dance like jazz and musical theater.
Regular dance will be more of a preparation for being a professional dancer in a company or as a teacher, and will focus more on one type of dance than being interdisciplinary.

Depends on the type of degree. A BA in dance will likely be less time-consuming than a BFA. Almost all BFA majors don’t do double majors. A BA could let you do a double major, but it’ll be a lot of work if you’re not doing a double with another arts major.

Depends on the school. Schools typically will not give scholarships or recruit for dance since it’s not a competitive sport for most schools. For auditioning, most schools will publish what they are looking for on their website. You can go ahead and contact the coach, but it’s not like they’ll recruit you. You’ll have to audition like everyone else. Most students on competitive dance teams don’t major in dance. The top teams in the country (Louisville and NC State, for example) have mostly non-arts majors.

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A dance BFA is typically around 90 semester credits out of the 120 expected for a four year degree (average of 15 per semester). A BA might be more like 60 credits. Other majors are usually 50-60 credits (although engineering is closer to 80) and General Eds may be 10-30 depending on how many exemptions you have from APs.

So as you can see you would need something like 150-160 credits to double major with a BFA even if you have a bunch of APs coming in. That’s what my D is doing, it has required one summer and then taking 20-22 credits per semester for most of the rest of her four years in college, so she is quite busy. Some colleges don’t allow that much overload and would require you to stay for 5 years. With a dance BA then a double major becomes much more straightforward.

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@FrancescaBennett welcome!

College vs. auditioning–there are lots of reasons to go either route. In my daughter’s case, she chose the college route for two main reasons: (1) she wants a college education and (2) she felt she needs more training. It is particularly common for modern/contemporary dancers to complete their training with a college degree.

There is as much range in college dance degrees as there are schools. Some programs (typically BA programs) are more like a typical academic major, with plenty of room for a double-major and lots of other non-dance classes. At the other end of the spectrum are conservatory BFA programs that don’t allow a double-major or even a minor because of the demands of the dance program. I will say that it is my opinion that it is difficult to train for a professional dance career and complete an additional rigorous academic major at the same time.

I don’t know much about dance teams, but everything I’ve heard is that they are generally quite separate from dance departments, and that it is not possible to both major in dance and be on the dance team because of the demands of both. I’m sure this is less true in BA programs than more demanding BFA programs. In terms of majoring in a non-dance field and then being on the dance team, I would think that this would give your dancer a lot of performance opportunities and the fun of being in a dance group, but would not really further her training as a dancer. Others should feel free to correct me if I’m wrong!

We found it helpful to think long and hard about what my dd’s professional goals were, and thus what kind of training she was looking for. This helped us figure out what questions to ask and which programs to apply to.

Some helpful questions for us were:
-What dance styles were offered, and how much emphasis is there on each style?
-To what extent is choreography/creative work included in the curriculum?
-What kind of jobs do graduates of the program have?
-How many credit hours make up the dance major?
-How much technique class do dance majors take each week?
-What opportunities are there for students to perform?
-What opportunities are there for students to show their own creative work?
-What academic classes/programs are available outside of the dance major?

If you tell us more about what your dancer’s background and interests and goals are, I’m sure many of us can chime in with more specific ideas. Between everyone on these boards, we have visited and researched and have kids at a LOT of schools!!

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Thank you all so much for your helpful and informative replies. Now that I have a clearer understanding of some of the options, I can have a better conversation with my dancer. I’m sure I’ll be back with more questions!

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I suggest subscribing to Dance Magazine and getting their college guide as well. A decent place to start for basic info on programs and the magazine has lots of articles explaining your questions as well as other areas college study. I think it is really important to ask your daughter her future goals- performance ? dance education ? studio owner? Art administration ? Learn about BFA vs BA. Many BFA programs have nice Minors that can be doable ( Arts Admin, Marketing, Pre-PT). Some BA programs have Dance Science tracks for pre-health science students . Some programs have Dance Education Certification or ability to get Elementary education certification. Some are super focused on training for professional dance careers, etc.

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Ditto on the Dance Magazine suggestion.

My kid opted to dance professionally rather than go to school (small company, balletic modern). She then went to a college with dance, at an older age, but opted for psychology. She is 27 and finishing her senior year while working. Most dancers she knew who were dancing in place of college, were taking one or two classes at a time while they danced.

Her company ended. It is incredibly hard, in this country, to keep going, financially. Dancers (in the concert/art realm) often aren’t paid or even pay to perform. Her director insisted on paying them, out of her own pocket if necessary. These dancers were high level. The director is now teaching dance at a prep school and has a more stable life.

It takes more than talent, obviously. There are dancers we know who have the drive and perseverance to make it work. A lot end up teaching at private schools.

Even with a PhD, one talented dancer/choreographer I know had a duo performance in a square in Boston at rush hour and people just walked by. It was sad. She makes a living teaching at a school too.

Majoring in dance is a legitimate way to get a bachelor’s and some do go on to grad school for dance, or to dancing as a career, free lance or in a company.

Dancers with a BA or BFA can go to med or law school or do any other grad work they end up wanting to do, and are respected in the job market by many.

From what I see, dance teams and competitions are an entirely different ball game and I only know about them from tv. I would look for a school with a BFA or maybe BA. Also look for emphasis on performance or choreography or both.

I think options for college years include:

  1. deferring for a year or not applying so as to train and/or dance
    2)majoring in dance at a school that has a good program for what you want, for a BFA that is more immersive, or a BA (or a BS like Skidmore)
    3)majoring in something else but continuing with lessons and performance, either on campus or off campus as needed
  2. double major either alongside dance or something else
  3. major/minor
  4. not matriculating while dancing but taking one or two classes each semester for a number of years

There are also areas of study to branch out into for dancers, including ethnographic studies/world dance, pedagogy, choreography, multi-media and interdisciplinary works, installations, physiology and so on.

Again, I don’t know anything about commercial dance which may pay a lot better, or about dance teams as a sport.

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Commercial dance, as I understand it, is jazz, hip hop, and broadway style dance. “Commercial” means dance for stage, media, back up dancers, etc.