<p>My son has a dilemma; he wants to study dance or theater in college - and to be able to cross-over into the other area as a minor, at the every least. He has experience in all forms of dance, dancing for 13 years, excels in tap, he is a National Young Artist Foundation Winner in Dance/Tap 2014, Honorable Mention 2013, and is studying modern/lyrical at a local studio, ballet at community college, and teaches tap and hip-hop. He came a little late to the game as far as other dance disciplines because of intense bullying, but found his way back to it all, and is doing everything he can to make up for lost time relative to other forms of dance since tap has been his primary focus, without interruption, for so long. He will never be praised for his barre work, but he has been told by numerous teachers he has potential and natural ability in dance overall. He has a trainable voice too - not fantastic but workable and has done well singing, three lead roles in high school and local theater. Academics are better than average with a 3.2 Cummulative GPA (just under). He has had some honors classes but usually does average work (and has a processing information learning disability although he manages it well and has never had special education). He does, however, routinely obtain As in physical education and wellness and any arts-related classes, including shop, art, drama, media production, creative writing, etc.... He has two years of language, but only one is considered a high school year. He is also a musican; reads music, plays the piano and drums (percussionist), and raps - and has won a local contest for his rap/lyrics. He also has won multiple tap dance awards and contests, and choreographed award-winning competition team routines. Our struggle is in figuring out where all the pieces of this puzzle will fit. Is there a college or university that will accept him into their program with less than stellar academics, but recognize his gift for creativity and artistry, with an amazing capacity to choreograph, and a desire to one day create a theatrical dance performance production company and showcase this work across the world? Is there anywhere that would be interested in his talent and accept him based on his undeveloped potential? Is there a college that would be interested in laying the groundwork for him to more fully develop his artistry? IF he cannot get passed the ballet barre or the vocal audition to the part where he can tap or, perhap,act, he might not ever be seen. Then there is the whole challenge of obtaining admission into a university with a more diverse performance arts program. Where does this leave him as far as possible options? We have 5 schools we are applying to, so far, but are not even certain these are right for him. Any suggestions?</p>
<p>Roosevelt/CCPA has a BFA MT Dance emphasis program. The academics would not be a problem, but he should check it out to see if there would be enough dance for him.</p>
<p>UArts in PA?? They have a dance majors and I know they allow Music Theater minors though you have to audition in. Pace has great dance but I don’t know how flexible the class options are.</p>
<p>WannaB, have you guys considered Point Park University in Pittsburgh? GREAT dance program, and MT, and lots of interplay between the disciplines. You can major in dance and minor in MT there too. He will be okay academically there, and they have a very good support system university-wide for students with learning disabilities. </p>
<p>You ask a lot of questions that are at this point almost rhetorical. The only way you will find out if the school you are looking for exists, is for him to jump in and audition. You are right to want to expand the list from five. No program is going to fulfill 100% of the points on any student’s wish list. But there are places out there where it will be a very good fit.</p>
<p>Many Musical Theatre programs will allow you to combine dance and acting. And also singing. Broadway is really looking now for “triple threats”–performers who can dance, act, and sing–and Musical Theatre programs have responded to this demand.</p>
<p>Many programs will emphasize an audition over academics. He should be able to find places that will allow him to tap dance and act for his audition. (Maybe pick an easy song to sing for vocal auditions)</p>
<p>And the reality is that it is much easier for boys, because there are always fewer boys auditioning, while many programs try to take equal numbers of boys and girls. There are a LOT of programs who will be very excited to find a boy who can dance!</p>
<p>KEVP</p>
<p>Check out the BFA in Dance at University of Arizona.
[School</a> of Dance BFA Program Overview](<a href=“http://dance.arizona.edu/students/future_students/programs/bfa/]School”>http://dance.arizona.edu/students/future_students/programs/bfa/)</p>
<p>My DD is a dance major but wants to perform in MT. I tried to tell her, but being the stubborn child she is, she refused to go the MT route. Her dance skills are awesome but she really needs vocal training. She is a junior and so I am hoping she will try voice lessons at least but she is trying to graduate early and really has no time to do so. I really recommend the MT route in my opinion if he is interested in performing. He may already have the dance skills needed.</p>
<p>Check out the Musical Theater forum. There is a wealth of information there and he may find that major would combine everything he wants into one program. His grades would be fine for most programs.</p>
<p>a few schools not already mentioned are Roger Williams in RI and Dean College and Bridgewater State in MA. Pace has a Commercial Dance major that combines some acting but I’m not sure if it would include vocal. I will repeat a few mentioned above that came to mind before I read the responses: U of Arts, Point Park would be fabulous, they have a wonderful dance program.</p>
<p>I highly recommend Pace University’s Commercial Dance program! As a current BFA Acting student with 18+ years of dance experience, I have already been able to perform in dance showcases with dance majors and in a few weeks I will be auditioning for their dance minor… and even better, it right in the heart of NYC :)</p>
<p>Here are my two bits and I have little experience in this area so this is off top of my head. Although so much will hinge on the audition, it is rare to find a guy who is as gifted in dancing as yours, and I think that could make him a good catch at a number of schools. So I;d look at schools that appeal to him that are not known to be super strict on the academics and by this I mean if a school is unofficially looking for around a 3.6 GPA and up, then pencil and only pencil them off the list. However, even the more academic schools may take notice with his dancing so the bigger issue is will he flourish in one of those or not or will the academics overwhelm him and take away from the time he spends doing what he likes. Once you find schools that appeal to him, get in touch with them directly and chat on some of the above. I would not recomend bringing up the LD with schools at this point. Agree with posts on looking at musical theatre forum and I would at this point quickly get a feel for how any of schools he likes works with LD kids, meaning are the friendly and helpful with LD kids or not. There is a forum on that too and I’m sure many parents on that forum would glady pm once you start narrowing schools.</p>
<p>Skidmore has a great theater and dance department</p>
<p>Texas Tech is an up-and-coming program - they got a new head of the department just last year, and lots of mostly positive changes are being made. It’s an excellent place to be a guy and a dancer. Both are in high demand. </p>
<p>Currently they do one musical a year, though I’ve heard another might be added within the next year or so. On average, there are about ten musicals produced in the Lubbock community in a given academic year (more in the summer). Tech’s big focus of the last year and a half has been on devised theatre, new works and student writing/direction. Oh, and they offer a BA in Theatre, BFA in Acting (audition after one semester at the school), BA in Dance, and minors in all of the above. It is common and completely possibly to double major in Theatre and Dance. If your son would prefer to take the BFA Acting route, it would be easier to do the dance minor instead, but still possible to major in both if he took a full course load every semester.</p>
<p>The University of Wisconsin - Stevens Point has programs in theatre and dance. There is a great deal of crossover between the units. Both BFA Acting and Musical Theatre students have auditioned and been accepted as dance minors.</p>
<p>Otterbein has a BFA in MT with dance concentration.</p>
<p>SUNY at Buffalo has Dance, with crossover to theater, musical theater. There is also some merit money to sweeten the pot there.</p>