My daughter is a freshman in high school and has been dancing (ballet, jazz, contemporary, tap) for several years and has been on a competitive dance team for the last 4 years. Dance is large part of her life and would love to continue to dance in college but isn’t sure of the options available to her. Right now (and it changes) she thinks she thinks that she’d like to go into a medical field like nursing, EMT, PA, but would also like to pursue dance.
Her primary focus is not ballet, although she’s strong in it, she prefers contemporary and lyrical. Are most programs ballet focused?
Do most dance programs in college allow for a student to double major in another area, so that they have a foundation in another area?
What does the audition process look like? From reading the other threads, it looks like auditions are often times early in the Fall of their senior year, is that correct? So she would audition before even applying to the school? When do you all tour/visit prospective schools if the auditions are in the Fall, spring of junior year?
How many go onto the school’s dance team or just minor in dance, or take classes locally (commercially) if near large cities like NYC or LA? Or have people found good programs in other cities?
Thanks for any input! This part of the dance world is new to me.
Daughter attended UNM and one of her best friends graduated with a degree from UNM in flamenco dance. Friend currently owns her own dance studio. Daughter graduated from UNM with a Classics degree and was pre-med/dental. She was on a merit scholie. And also as D1 athlete. It was a great school for diverse interests (at the time she took electives in Navajo, hip hop and softball which was NOT her sport!) She was able to attend the Zuni dances invite only, the balloon fiesta, snow board, cliff dive and visit Santa Fe, Las Cruzes and other nearby locales. She had 4 wonderful years 2500+ miles away from home!
When your daughter gets closer to the audition/application cycle, she might have a better notion of her academic and dance goals. Dance for fun, competitive dance team, dance as a minor, dance as a major, dance as a double major, all of those will be options. This summer would be a good time to visit some colleges/universities that are on her radar and start asking the questions she wants to ask.
Happykid is a lighting designer, so we saw a number of dance performances at her university. Here are links for you to check out:
Towson University dance team website with information about auditions. https://towsondanceteam.com/
I can speak to your D’s situation. My D is a senior BA Dance major at Ohio University. She will be starting their DPT program two weeks after graduation. I can recommend OU. They offer a BFA, a BA and three different minors in Dance. They are modern based but have ballet though they do not offer an en pointe classes. They also have a very good pre health professions programs. They offer a number of post graduate medical degree programs as well as a DO program if she chose to become a physician.
It will be very difficult to have a dual major with nursing - not impossible, but difficult. My daughter is a sophomore BSN at a D-1 school (with a world-famous performing arts college) and is a part of a club that performs for free around town. It keeps her love for dance but at a lower commitment than a minor or “the” dance team.
The university recently had a story about a female soccer player who is getting her BSN this spring. It highlighted a lot of the challenges, including rescheduling and making up clinicals and/or practices. I don’t see how she did it, personally.
EMT isn’t a college level programs. EMT-Basic is a 6-12 week long program that is typically offered at your local community college. (Sometimes also offered by the local Red Cross.) AEMT (Advanced EMT) is an additional 6-12 weeks of CC-level coursework, followed by a national standardized exam.
EMT-P (paramedic) is a 2 year program, again typically offered at the CC level, though there are a very small number of colleges that offer a BS in paramedic studies/emergency medical services…
Both AEMT and EMT-P 0fograms require full time field work (including night shifts) as part of the training and both will present significant challenges for scheduling dance classes around…
PA programs are extremely competitive for admission and it’s often recommended that students who are serious about pursuing a PA degree apply to direct entry PA programs. These are 5 year programs that compress a bachelor’s and master’s degree into 5 years. The direct entry program are very tightly scheduled and generally do not allow time for second majors–especially for a time consuming major like dance… Many direct entry program include fully scheduled summers as part of the program.
Pre-PA students will have time consuming academic course requirements in college that include a significant number of laboratory course requirements. Additionally, PA program require applicants to have completed anywhere from 500 to 2000 hours of PAID hands healthcare experience (jobs like CNA, EMT, paramedic, emergency room technician, surgical technician, etc.) before they apply for admission. A double major in dance and pre-PA is possible but may require additional year(s) of college or several gap years between undergrad and applying for PA school.
RE: UNM's dance dept. I know a grad of the program who is now a professional flamenco dancer. (She went to HS my younger D and they remain good friends/stay in contact.) She received a Fulbright Scholarship to pursue further studies in flamenco in Spain post college graduation. After 2 years in Spain she came back to the US. She now tours extensively and teaches flamenco internationally.
Beside the flamenco program, UNM is one of a very small number od colleges that offers a program in emergency medical services. The program also leads to certification as a paramedic.
<a href="http://degrees.unm.edu/units/7316/periods/100/plans">http://degrees.unm.edu/units/7316/periods/100/plans</a>