<p>Dance is not my strong suit by any means, and I'm concerned that if I audition at a school that incorporates dance in their audition process that I won't make it in. I'm fairly confident in my ability as far as singing and acting goes, but the dancing worries me. I've been looking around and have found a few schools without dance auditions, but I was hoping someone could help me save some grief and some time. Does anyone know of any good MT programs without a dance audition?</p>
<p>Is there any way you could squeeze in a few ballet lessons between now and your auditions? Just knowing some of the terminology might be helpful if you do have a dance audition to do - and being able to follow a simple combination will also be helpful.</p>
<p>lizzie22: Thanks, I hadn’t looked at that school yet.</p>
<p>MTMama: I’m going to try. I live in a small town and there aren’t really any dance studios near me, but I’m looking and asking around so hopefully I’ll find something soon.</p>
<p>Ithaca does not have a dance audition. Something to keep in mind, though, is that among schools that have a dance component to the audition, there is a wide variance in the weight given to dance and the nature of the dance component. Some schools have very intensive dance components where if you don’t have a strong foundation in technique and can’t handle complex combinations you will be at a disadvantage. Others have a dance component where all they are looking for is if you can move well, follow direction and learn simple combinations, where extensive dance training is not critical. Some schools weight the dance component equally with voice and acting and others don’t give it nearly as much weight. Syracuse and Emerson illustrate this divergence. At Syracuse, the dance component of the audition is tough and is weighted equally with the other two. When my daughter auditioned there, her years of dance training served her well. At Emerson, the dance audition (at least when my daughter auditioned) was extremely easy even for someone with little dance experience. As you look at schools, it’s important that you get good info to enable you to discern where dance fits into the scheme of things at auditions. Sometimes looking at the amount of dance in the BFA curriculum provides some insight into where dance fits into the audition scheme. Also, don’t hesitate to call the departments at the schools in which you are interested and just ask.</p>
<p>While those interested in MT should get as much dance training and experience as they can while in high school, just because a school has a dance component to its audition doesn’t per se mean you can’t be successful at the audition if your dance experience and training is more limited.</p>
<p>MichaelNKat: I hadn’t even thought to look at the credit requirements to get an idea of the intensity and weight of the dance audition. I’ll be sure to look into it and call the individual schools. Thanks for your advice! :)</p>