<p>It's been difficult finding out about the various dance programs in colleges -- if anyone has personal experience or knowledge about this, we would most appreciate it.</p>
<p>My daughter's interested in continuing her modern dance studies (as well as ballet) in a small to medium-sized, selective liberal arts college -- not as a major, but perhaps as a minor. She's a strong student and would also like a rigorous math/computer science department.</p>
<p>With that information in mind, does anyone have any idea of the dance departments in the following schools, or any other school suggestions? How good is the modern dance instruction? Can anyone dance, or is it only for dance majors? What kind of modern dance is it? (Regular modern dance or "world" dance forms, for instance -- sorry, I'm not a dancer and hope I'm explaining this correctly.)</p>
<p>-- Williams
-- Tufts
-- Pomona
-- Princeton (we've seen this program and my daughter loved what she saw, but any other comments would be appreciated)
-- Brown
-- Yale
-- Harvard
-- Vassar
-- Middlebury
-- Bowdoin
-- Amherst
-- University of Chicago (no dance dept, but are the clubs good enough to replace?)
-- Georgetown</p>
<p>Dance Spirit magazine has a college guide with great information on degrees offered (BFA vs BA), whether the programs require an audition or are open to all students, emphasis and types of dance offered, Major/Minor, whether they allow double majors, etc., for many college programs.</p>
<p>I can give a little insight on Harvard as my daughter graduated from there this year with a degree in physics and minor in math and she is now dancing professionally (ballet) with a company in Europe. She loved her experience at H. The dance program at H is extracurricular, there is no major or minor. There are a smattering of dance related academic classes, but technique classes are extracurricular. They have a professional staff leading the technique classes and are at a high level. They also get many master classes from very prominent people. Jill Johnson, who heads the dance program, was a principal with William Forsythe’s (modern) company. Dancers in her company were surprised that she did not come from a conservatory. There are both ballet and modern companies that provide performance opportunities. One has to audition to become a company member. I can’t write much about the modern company since my daughter did not participate in it (however, many dancers are members of both companies). </p>
<p>Academically, within her department they have a collaborative culture in which my daughter thrived. I think she found the same to be true in math and computer science classes she took. H is at or near the top in these fields, so if the culture is a fit, she should be happy academically. While she performed in shows every semester, she still had time to do research in physics and to TF (H terminology for teaching assistant) in math.</p>
<p>Good luck with the applications and decisions.</p>