<p>At U Michigan, MT students who are strong dancers can be placed in classes with dance majors.</p>
<p>That is true also with Montclair. It improves the quality of the dance instruction immensely, obviously.</p>
<p>dancermom,</p>
<p>If your d is in the most advanced dance now as a freshman, what will she do for her remaining three years at school? My friend is considering Montclair and is a fabulous dancer as well. Will your daughter not be able to take additional dance or will she just have to stay in that same level over and over.</p>
<p>Good question - I will ask.</p>
<p>I don't know about Montclair specifically, but when I was in college at Syracuse (years ago) I started in the most advanced dance as a freshman and took the same classes over and over, but each time the teacher may have been different, we worked on different choreographic material in the class, and the students in the class changed. I felt that I grew signifacantly over my years in college as a dancer... so, it may not be the end of the world for an advanced dancer to start in upper level dance and remain in it throughout their four years.</p>
<p>Dear Classicalbk,</p>
<p>The Hartt Schools Musical Theatre program requires two years of ballet, and three years of tap and jazz. We have found that many of our students take even more dance classes and may even take all three styles for the full four years. Hartt offers several levels of ballet, tap and jazz. Students are placed into the level of dance that is appropriate to their ability level. If a student's ability in ballet surpasses the ballet offered through our theatre division (a very rare circumstance) students may take ballet classes through our dance division.</p>
<p>Please feel encouraged to contact me directly with any questions about The Hartt School at 860.768.4148.</p>
<p>MT Schools with strong dance </p>
<hr>
<p>Hi- My daughter is looking for an MT program where she can be sure she will be placed according to her ability in dance. She's had years and years of ballet and a number of years recently of tap/jazz/modern. We've heard that some schools often put the first year students in beginner dance classes, and that wouldn't be good. She'd loose ground. I've also heard she can't assume she'll be allowed to take class with the dance majors. Ideas?
Thanks so much.</p>
<p>Thanks so much for your answer! (This site is amazing.) I just had a look at your program on-line and it does look very impressive. Thanks again for that information!</p>
<p>Oklahoma City University has a fantastic music school (with a musical theatre major) and an unparalleled dance school. The Ann Lacy School of American Dance and Arts Management is said to be second in the nation. Recently at the auditions for the international Asia tour of 42nd street, the panel narrowed the auditioners to 20 dancers, and 10 of them were OCU grads. Seven of those ten got cast. The dancers are amazing. Music theater, vocal performance, and theater majors all are levelled and may take the same classes as the dance performance majors. I love my tap teacher so much, and I have learned an incredible amount from her in these three short months. In case you haven't heard of OCU before, just throwing a tidbit out there, we graduated Kristin Chenoweth and Kelli O'Hara.</p>
<p>I have just joined the forum and have many questions. I am reading these threads from students with advanced dance experience. My daughter's strength is in acting and singing not dance. Will she be at a disadvantage in auditions to a MT program? Can anyone recommend great Liberal Arts and MT programs on the West Coast?</p>
<p>Different schools attach differing priorities to dance for purposes of auditions and admissions. Some schools, like Ithaca, don't include dance in the audition requirements. Other schools, like Carnegie Mellon and Emerson, include dance but it is not very demanding and as long as a student has some dance experience, can move and pick up a sequence, the student should be ok (the schools are looking for ability to learn and take direction, not advanced technique). Some schools, like Syracuse, have a more demanding dance portion of the audition where a student who does not have strong dance experience will be at a disadvantage. In researching schools, it's important to understand where the school's priorities are.</p>
<p>That being said, as a general rule, a student with a solid dance backround will have more options and be more competitive. Taking dance classes can only enhance a student's opportunities.</p>
<p>Speaking as an MT student at Oklahoma City University who is not so talented in dance, the audition process ofgetting into the program at OCU does not involve dance. The listen to voice and look at acting, but they are not super-strict on either (except you must be able to sing and act well.) All MT majors are required to level in dance, but that is not until Freshmen Orientation week.</p>
<p>Thanks for the information about Dance. My D has dance experience through the productions she has been involved. I will also get her dance coaching from now through the audition time. My next biggest challenge is to find out how to pay for these schools if she gets accepted. Many are quite expensive.</p>
<p>Ocumtbari....how are you liking OCU? My D is sending in her application to OCU today.</p>
<p>mtsinger01,</p>
<p>My D is home for the holiday and I could FINALLY have a conversation with her without being interrupted by all the things on her busy schedule! I asked her the question about what dance classes she can take since she is in advanced classes now. Next semester (which she is really excited about, but I hope she can carry it off!) she is taking two levels of Modern, Ballet, Jazz and Tap. What you can do is choose classes with other instructors or I guess another emphasis to get other types of instruction and experience. </p>
<p>She feels challenged, is DEFINITELY not bored, and is improving all the time, as well as enjoying everything. She is SO enthusiastic about Montclair State in really way, and absolutely RAVES about Clay James and Eric Diamond in particular, as well as her fellow students.</p>
<p>Hope this helps! PM me if you have any other questions. If you read the Montclair thread, my D is not the only freshman who is extremely happy.</p>