Hello all! I’m a senior in high school hoping to major in modern dance in college. I’ve narrowed down my list of schools to the following nine, and was hoping to get some extra insight into how the dance program is run (is there a focus on ballet or modern, if modern what styles, etc.), other academics, overall experience, etc. Any and all information is welcome!
Barnard College - particularly how rigorous the program is, how many guys take class (ex: are there partnering classes?), and how dedicated the majors are (it’s hard to tell with schools that don’t hold an audition and I don’t want to get the wrong impression)
Connecticut College
Fordham University
New York University
Rutgers University
Sarah Lawrence College
University of the Arts
Point Park University
UMass Amherst
Have you looked at TCU or Shenandoah? Shenandoah does a dance day with auditions that is really great. Barnard has its class list on the dance website.
For Fordham and NYU you would need to apply to their respective audition-based BFA programs (Ailey & Tisch, respectively) – otherwise no real options for a major, and limited access to dance courses from other schools.
Barnard’s dance courses are listed here - https://dance.barnard.edu/courses – they don’t seem to offer specific partnering classes. There are males from Columbia who can major in dance at Barnard, but I’d think that the number of males would tend to be small.
All of my daughters friends from high school who wanted serious college dance programs went for BFA’s – I know Barnard has dance classes at all levels, but the technique classes typically meet twice a week while BFA students are in dance class pretty much all day, every day. General academic demands at Barnard are quite rigorous – so even with a dance major, most of your time would be spent with academics, especially the first two years.
I think most dance majors at Barnard supplement with classes at other studios like Step and Broadway Dance Center. But that involves added costs for studio fees & transit.
What are your long term goals? (That is, what do you expect to be doing post-college with a dance major).
As of now I hope to go into performance, but I know many dancers aiming to perform end up teaching or choreographing, which I am open to as well. I currently have class everyday and love it, so my concern with schools like Barnard is that I wouldn’t be happy with having technique classes only 2 or 3 times a week. I’ve taken many classes at BDC during trips to the city, but it would definitely be preferable that extra classes not be necessary.
I just think that if you want a dance career as a performer, then a BFA program would better meet your needs. For modern dance, I think you should look into the Fordham/Ailey program – but I am sure that is audition-based. And also seriously consider SUNY Purchase – it may be a safety for you, but they do have a seriousliy strong dance program. My daughter had several friends from high school who attended SUNY Purchase, and I think they all danced with companies after college.
I just think that BFA programs are geared for performance. BA programs are geared to academics.
I’m not saying that you couldn’t major in dance at Barnard and go on to a performing career – but you’d be competing at auditions against BFA grads who will all have the benefit of more intensive training. If you were undecided about major or hoping tor a double major, then I would have different advice.
There are a lot of great contemporary programs out there, each with its own unique specialty/emphasis. My daughter is in her first semester at Ailey/Fordham and absolutely loves it so far. She has a friend at Marymount Manhattan who is very happy there, and a friend at SUNY Purchase, who maybe is only just OK with her decision. Everyone has different needs. Happy to share our application and audition experience with anyone who is interested. Schools I highly recommend from our process include: Oklahoma (great Ballet and Modern programs), Rutgers, Towson, George Mason, Ohio State, SMU, and Ailey/Fordham. A lot of your decision it turns out will hinge on the academic side. Schools like Fordham, NYU, SMU and Oklahoma have some rigorous academic standards to go with the dance requirements. Those expectations continue once you become a student, so be ready. SUNY Purchase is hard to get into from a dance perspective, easy from an academic.