I was accepted into the bfa mt program at Emerson for early acceptance, and I have a few questions to ask. It’s my understanding that the dance program isn’t as strong as I would hope it would be at Emerson and I was curious to hear what students say about that. Also, does anyone know of any Emerson alumni working in tours or on broadway? Thanks for your help!
We know someone who started as an MT major and was “redirected” to a BA in theatre studies I think during sophomore year. Something that Emerson has been known for in the past is “redirecting” a good percentage of students from the MT major. In addition to the BA in Theatre Studies she also received a Dance Minor. Interestingly enough, even though she was “redirected”, she is now in her first national tour, “Nice Work If You Can Get It”. She entered with a strong dance background and was able to do a lot of choreography work as part of her dance minor.
As a current Emerson BFA Musical Theatre student, I am here to tell you that the “redirecting” that you speak of no longer exists. Emerson College used to have a cut program in place for it’s BFA Performing Arts Majors, but now we no longer do. As the school has moved away from the cut program, we are also becoming a stronger program in a variety of different ways. Now that the cut program no longer exists, the school can focus more on individual progression vs. strict competition. As our program evolves more and more dance classes are being added. I am perfectly challenged and learning so much from my dance classes so far here at Emerson. There are several options to be placed into the higher level dance classes and take a dance minor to have additional ones if you want even more dance. Emerson College also partners with the Boston Ballet as of this year, and I have already taken a few excellent classes over there. Emerson has also kept up the other performing arts classes at the same number if not more. We take an hour of voice lessons each week. We have Acting 1 Movement and Acting 2 Voice and Text. We take Jazz and Ballet as Freshmen but you can certainly move on to higher level dance if you are at the level to do so. We also take a variety of liberal arts classes which is one of the reasons I chose Emerson College. The liberal arts general education here is amazing. We have one of the best writing programs in the country. I believe that as a performing artist I need to be as well rounded of an individual as possible. Emerson College is certainly a place I can do that at. To answer your questions about Emerson alumni in tours and Broadway, they are everywhere. Sure you might not spot them as easily and Michigan or Carnegie at the moment, but each and every year we are certainly making a name for ourself at the Senior Showcase. Check out an Emerson alum in the current national tour of Kinky Boots, who was originally in the Broadway company. Or check out another girl who is in the national tour of Mamma Mia. Another the girl that vvnstar mentioned who is in the national tour of Nice Work If You Can Get It. There is a guy who is currently playing Frankie Valli in the Broadway cast of Jersey Boys who is an Emerson alum. Check out Julia Mattison who was in the Broadway cast of Godspell. And a very famous one, Betsy Morgan who toured in Les Mis and was in the cast on Broadway as well. Emerson Alumni are all over the national tour and Broadway scene and those numbers are only continuing to grow.
Awesome! I knew the cut system had been gone, I was really just curious about the dance program and you have certainly answered those questions for me 
Thank you! I’m heading to Emerson to sit in on the mt classes soon! Thank you!
@aja1996 Great information!!! I am happy to hear that even with the BFA you take many liberal arts courses. Can I ask a couple of questions? Are you able to double major or minor outside of theater? I believe there is not a true campus but a city campus, how does that impact meeting people etc…? Thank you!
@collegebound245 can you share your experience visiting Emerson? Where did you wind up selecting? Thank you.