Keeping up with dance??

Hi!!
I really love dance, and it’s something I’m really passionate about and want to keep in my life, but I’m not sure how to. I plan on going into college as a biology major pre med student. Most of the colleges I’ve applied to are really small and don’t have any dance organizations on campus besides the pom squads which I’m not really I interested in joining (I’ve never been on a dance team). I’m considering going to dance studios near whatever college I end up attending and taking classes there, but I’m worried that as a pre med and as a college student, I won’t have the time or the money to be able to continue on with it. Are there any other pre med dancers out there?? How did you continue incorporating dance into your life?? And if you went to a studio, did you ever feel like you couldn’t keep up because of time/money?? Thank you so much!!

Have you considered teaching dance? I danced all through my childhood and planned to teach dance at a local studio during undergrad. Unfortunately, my plan to teach did not work out as the dance studio was 30 minutes from my apt and thus was too much of a time commitment with driving. I think I would have been successful if the studio would have been closer as I really enjoyed sharing the art of dance with the younger kids. Just an idea and it could provide you with a little extra $$ and look good to med schools.

I’m not pre-med or a dance major, but I really depended on clubs at my school. It’s possible you may be able to start a dance club with a group of friends. That’s what the captain of my dance squad did, and by the time she left the club was stable enough to last without her.

When school isn’t in session, I just dance at my house, honestly. It works for me!

If you’re really passionate about dance, have you considered applying to a couple of colleges that do have dance organizations on campus?

Are the small colleges that you applied to in cities, small or large? Often cities will have opportunities for participating in a dance team, or teaching dance classes, or taking dance classes at professional schools for money. Sometimes if you teach classes you can take the professional classes for free.

My daughter was a math/econ major. She had to keep up her GPA in order to get into finance. Her school was big enough that they have quite a few dance clubs. Many students were pre-professional dancers even though they didn’t major in dance. My daughter also ended up taking classes at a nearby studio and she was asked to teach few classes at the studio. The only down side was she couldn’t participate in their recitals due to her school vacation schedule. I don’t think it would be that hard for you find schools with good dance programs.

Depending on the college you go to, they may have dance classes that are open to non-majors. If you have room in your schedule, you could take a dance class each semester. You would get an easy class academically and be able to continue dancing. The dance classes at my university were open to anyone (of course, you’d have to have experience to take an advanced level course, but major/minor status didn’t matter), and as a math/CS double major (also a music minor, a condition of a scholarship), I was able to take a dance class basically every semester, and even ended up picking up the minor.

@guineagirl96 I’ve never really understood how dance works at college either. Our D21 is part of a pre-professional ballet company but won’t pursue it in college or professionally after graduation. She can’t imagine not dancing in college, though, and is ok taking contemporary class instead but would want to make sure she still can take a barre class. If one takes dance class at Richmond, does it replace an academic class for the semester? Or are there dance classes to take as ECs?

@homerdog Dance definitely works different at every college. But for most, the dance classes are academic classes. At Richmond, essentially all the dance classes offered through the department are academic classes and offered to all students regardless of major/minor status. Technique classes, like ballet, are 1 unit, which is the same as most classes (1 unit=3.5 semester credits), and counts for a letter grade/part of your GPA. I would typically take 5 academic classes each semester, with dance being one of them (a normal load is 4-5 units). At Richmond, the audition dance company (which anyone can audition for regardless of major/minor status; i was not in it because of my music commitments), University Dancers, also counts for academic credit (i believe that’s .5 units); they take class in the evening 3 times a week (ballet, modern, and jazz I believe), and then have rehearsals on top of that. Richmond also had several dance clubs so those that were interested in latin dance, ballroom, hip hop, etc could participate in those and those were purely ECs. I did also know some students who did some classes down at Richmond Ballet.

My daughter was able to fulfill her fine arts credit by taking a beginner ballet class - after 15 years of classical training it was super easy, but it was a nice respite from nursing classes. The instructor wanted her to take some classes for ballet majors just for fun, and said she is always welcome to come in and take class when she wants (for free!).

She also joined a student-led dance organization that goes out into the community and performs, and teaches kids some basic dance moves. It’s very low-key. It’s not the dance team that perform at football and basketball games, but they are pretty darn good.

The opportunities are out there, for sure, but you may need to ask around.

My son is a bio major at Stanford who is also aspired to be a professional dancer (modern). There is a very strong dance community there with plenty classes and student groups. He takes advances dance classes that counts towards GE requirements as well as training himself. Going out of school for training is pretty tough for him given the challenging course loads.

Are there any other colleges/universities in the area around your pre-med program that do offer dance classes, coaching, or clubs? Some of the colleges in my area form a “consortium” and you can occasionally (with approval from both deans) get credit for classes at these other colleges if it’s not offered at your own, and you can join clubs at those schools so long as you can transport yourself. This may be a way to fulfill a fine arts requirement if it is an option for you. There may be some extra costs involved if you do this for credit.

As for the time/money aspect, I’m a BME major and have been extremely active in my school’s music program for all of college. It will work as long as you keep it as a concrete commitment in your schedule that you don’t cancel unless you absolutely need to.

Hey! I’m sort of in the same situation as you and I am thinking of doing pre-med/interested in pursuing dance. I used to dance in high school but stopped for a few years to focus on my school work. I plan on transferring and although the course load will be difficult wherever I go, I plan on trying to somehow incorporate dance into my schedule even if it’s a few hours a week. I think that you should see if the studio classes offer any discounts for students or if there are any free workshops. If not, you could definitely become a dance teacher at a dance studio so then maybe they’ll let you take classes for free. You could also go out into the community and see if there are any dance groups available for you to join. My friend has friends who are part of this break dance group completely unrelated to the college he is at and they still go to dance competitions. I think you should try to make it work especially because it only gets harder once you’ve decided you’re a pre-med and you really need that sort of outlet, whatever it may be, to help relieve all that stress. Good luck!