I just auditioned for the dance BFA at UIUC. If anyone would like to know more about the audition, feel free to ask!
Hi,
I am interested! It is on my daughter’s list, though not at top so not sure if she will get to it since she has never even visited and we don’t know much about it, other than good school that offers dance. Here a re a few questions: What types of dance do they cover in audition, what is the format or audition? Do they have any pointe offered at school or mostly modern? How competitive is the audition, number auditioning, accepted? Did you like the teachers, the audition? Any info is much appreciated!
Hi, I am auditioning for the dance BFA later on as well. Based on what you saw from the audition, How is the caliber of the dance training at UIUC compared to some other top dance schools like NYU or USC? Thanks!!
Typically, you’ll be attending a dance open house + the audition. For mine, it was a one day open house and audition, but I think for future dates, it’s two days. The facilities are nice, though a little small, but that’s because the dance department has about 20-25 students per year, for a grand total of 70 undergrads, plus 7 or 8 MFAs in the whole department, which I really enjoyed.
The open house was great, you’re led by the BFA undergrad director and the administrative director, and we also had two interns with us, who were both junior BFA students. There were only 20 people there to audition. Parents can stay with their children until the audition segment, then they can return for the orientation segment.
We started the audition with ballet, pretty typical and short class (short barre, petit allegro, tendus in centre, piourettes). Then we had a short modern phrase, we just did movement across the floor. After that, we did another short cotemporary/African combination, which was a bit more difficult, and finally, a guided contact improvisation. They are all taught by different teachers, and all the teachers were very nice. It’s only a two hour audition class, and the only time we were allowed to go back to where our bags were was between the ballet and modern class, so we could take our shoes off. Be prepared to be barefoot the rest of the time. After the classes, there will be solos performed. We went into another dance studio where we could practice until it was our turn.
After the solos, we went back to the main building and had an orientation with the faculty. If you (students or parents) have any questions, that’s the perfect place to ask them. There were a lot of things I was curious about that either someone’s parent or the prospective student asked. After that, the faculty split up to have one on one interviews, while some other current students came and chatted with us while we were waiting for our interview. I cannot stress this enough, everyone there is extremely kind, helpful, and welcoming.
I’m not sure if pointe is offered. I think it’s a mostly contemporary and modern program. There are five (?) performances a year. When I emailed the director before I attended the audition, she was very helpful in answering my questions. She told me that the do accept over half of the people auditioning, but they aim to have 20-25 students enroll. I’m not auditioning at NYU or USC, so I don’t think I can really make a good compairison between them. There were other girls there who were talking about also auditioning at Marymount Manhattan, Loyola Marymount, and Fordham. I can tell you that if I were to be accepted at U of I, I would be very happy to be a part of their dance program. It seems like a wonderful program full of positive energy.