Learning Goals in the Dance Major
Students find their individual artistic voices in three areas of the dance major: movement technique, dance studies (history and theory), and choreography and improvisation.
We strive to:
- Offer a diverse range of movement techniques
- Instill a deep and factual understanding of anatomical information in order to be more articulate in the body
- Expose our students to artistic traditions and current trends in dance-making
- Foster critical thinking and emphasize the ability to express oneself through language
- Raise social and cultural awareness
- Provide a methodology for creation, editing and presentation of one’s work in order to move from conceptual idea to performance
- Facilitate a high level of craft alongside a radical artistic voice in choreographic work
We work with integrity, rigor and diligence in order to teach our students to be citizens who contribute to the world. Our dance majors will graduate to become the next generation of trailblazing dance artists.
Breadth of Study/Scholarship
Our majors will honor the notion of building technique in dance of all kinds. They will engage in interdisciplinary investigations such as; dance and film, dance and science, performance art, performance studies and self-designed majors incorporating a myriad of related studies. They will select one non-kinetically oriented academic, administrative or production area in which to research under the supervision of their major advisor.
Specifics Within Field/Direction of Creativity and Service
Our majors will discover their individual movement, performance, writing, and choreographic styles. They will develop a high level of integrity in their art form on and off the stage. Seniors will create a 10-minute dance for presentation on the Palmer Auditorium Stage or a site-specific venue fully produced by the department. They will also support this physical production with a document calling on dance studies as their referential source. They will achieve proficiency in Ballet, Modern, Post-Modern, African and at least one other form of their choosing, and will work with hands-on production elements from lighting design to graphic design. They will think critically about their art form in theory and practice, and recognize how a personal choreographic aesthetic represents social ideologies within specific cultural contexts. Dance majors will apply their analytical knowledge directly to their experiences in technique and composition classes, and consistently experience dance outside of their 'comfort zone' as a given not an exception. Our dance majors will graduate able to become the next generation of trailblazing dance artists.
Artistic Citizenship/Contributions to Dance and Growth as a Person
Our majors will utilize organizational, theoretical and artistic opportunities as modeling for post-graduate behavior as a citizen in the world. They will therefore contribute to a new dance world, one that reflects changes in world society. Technical grace, choreographic power, and skills as a teacher and leader are translated into human terms of quantifiable growth.