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I am a high school senior and I plan to attend college this fall. i am stuck though. I want to attend Wright State in ohio, but I don't have ballet backround. I have been dancing jazz and ballroom for many many years, and most recently, hip-hop. I desperatly need to find a college that offers a dance major that i can take. If anyone knows a good school in ohio, that would be very helpful!

By Patient (Patient) on Wednesday, February 18, 2004 - 10:49 pm: Edit

Let's expand that to the surrounding states...I am curious to start learning about programs around the country....for the various types of dance, as well.

By Midwesterner (Midwesterner) on Thursday, February 19, 2004 - 12:58 pm: Edit

Take a look at dance magazine's dance directory. It lists dance programs by state.
http://www.dancemagazine.com/community/directory/directory.htm

By Musicalthtrmom (Musicalthtrmom) on Thursday, February 19, 2004 - 01:15 pm: Edit

try U of Akron in Ohio...Ohio University in Athens...

beyond that...Oklahoma City U....Park Point (Pittsburgh)...Boston Conservatory...U of Michigan...School of the Arts (Phillie)...do a google search for more..

By Musicalthtrmom (Musicalthtrmom) on Thursday, February 19, 2004 - 01:16 pm: Edit

sorry..that's POINT PARK...

By Soozievt (Soozievt) on Thursday, February 19, 2004 - 01:23 pm: Edit

Patient, without knowing more criteria you have, I will just suggest these schools which are NOT conservatories....Barnard, Goucher, Skidmore.
Susan

By Soozievt (Soozievt) on Thursday, February 19, 2004 - 02:14 pm: Edit

Some more for you:
Indiana University
Florida State
University of Florida
Hartt School at University of Hartford
Emerson
UMass Amherst
Boston Conservatory
Univ. of Michigan
Adelphi University
Univ. of Montana at Missoula
Rutgers
Juilliard
North Carolina School of the Arts
Univ. of Cincinatti
Ohio University
Ohio State
University of Oklahoma
Kent State
Point Park
Temple University
University of the Arts
Columbia College in SC
Columbia College in Chicago
Shenandoah University
Univ. of Texas at Austin
George Mason University
Arizona State Tempe
Butler University
California Institute of the Arts
New World School of the Arts
New York Universitye, Tisch School
SUNY Purchase
Univ. of Utah
Univ. of CA Irvine
Amherst College
Barnard
Case Western Reserve
Colorado College
Bennington College
Connecticut College
Dartmouth
Denison
GW
Hampshire College
Mt. Holyoke
Smith
Princeton
Sarah Lawrence
Skidmore
SUNY Brockport
Towson State
University of Akron
Berkeley
UCLA
UC Santa Barbara
U of MD
University of Minnesota
Washington U in St. Louis
Univ. of Washington, seattle
Kenyon College

I hope the girl who wanted Ohio schools looks at this list as well cause several are located in Ohio. This list is not comprehensive but is a good start.

Susan

By Thedad (Thedad) on Thursday, February 19, 2004 - 02:15 pm: Edit

I would go ahead and plan on taking beginning ballet. It's the underlying fundamental for jazz, modern, etc. Even if you don't want to make ballet a major emphasis, it's sort of the "English 1" of Dance majors and minors.

By Jamimom (Jamimom) on Thursday, February 19, 2004 - 07:16 pm: Edit

I would not worry about starting out as a dance major. Just make sure the school you pick has a good solid dance program that will permit you to take the classes. I say this because there are schools that severely limit their performing arts classes to those who are majoring in that discipline. Once you take a few dance courses, you will be more able to make the decision of whether you want to major in dance. It's is a tough, tough field.

By Lucky8dancer (Lucky8dancer) on Thursday, February 19, 2004 - 09:17 pm: Edit

thankyou everyone. all this information is so very helpful! I'll keep all of your suggestions in mind when I finish my college searches.

By Thedad (Thedad) on Thursday, February 19, 2004 - 09:25 pm: Edit

Jamimom has a good point. Smith dance classes are open to all; NYU dance classes are open to majors only. This is something you need to check out on a school by school basis.

Aligning schools that have acceptable Dance offerings with geography, size of school, and level of academics is more difficult than it appears at first glance.

(signed) Been There, Done That

P.S. Barnard has a really really good Dance offering. The Ballet is outstanding but the department is apparently heavily skewed towards Modern.

By Patient (Patient) on Friday, February 20, 2004 - 12:05 am: Edit

You guys are so great. Ask a question around here and you get an encyclopedia...complete with good humor and kind support.

I'm just casually asking at this point; hope the dancer from Ohio was helped by all of this.

As for my little one (14), I'm just collecting information. Things will undoubtedly change often over the next 4 years...

By Emilyp114 (Emilyp114) on Friday, February 20, 2004 - 03:40 pm: Edit

Just to correct something stated above about NYU. Although it's true that Tisch dance classes for dance majors are limited to majors, there are dance classes available to any NYU student both through CAP21 and Steinhardt.

By Jamimom (Jamimom) on Friday, February 20, 2004 - 05:42 pm: Edit

Well, when I looked back at the original post, it appears as though she wants to major in dance but does not have the basic ballet needed to get into a dance program. Given that information, I would recommend looking for a school with a dance major that permits the student to take classes without declaring that as a major--or allows the major without an audition or specific requirements (namely the missing ballet) I don't know how possible the latter is. The next step is to see if you can switch to a dance major once you are in the school without severe difficulty. I don't think NYU is a good choice because I don't think it is that easy to switch from once school to another, especially the performing arts schools such as Steinhardt. Also the dance classes availabel through CAP21 would be outside of the NYU program I would think unless you are assigned to that studio through Tisch. In other words, it would be a difficult transition to get to where she want to go. In contast, I know someone who did switch into a dance major at Cornell. Apparently the requirements are not that ornerous for dance there and if you have some background, talent and are willing to go for it, it is administratively pretty easy. So I believe the poster needs to find a school where this is possible. I don't know much about Wright State where she seems to have interest. Perhaps she can start as an undecided or general studies student and start taking the dance there, particularly the ballet sequences with the idea of switching to a dance major when she can show the department that she can get through the program. They may not accept her as a dancer without the ballet but may let her transfer into the departement if she takes the ballet there once she is in.

By Lucky8dancer (Lucky8dancer) on Friday, February 20, 2004 - 08:54 pm: Edit

I have some ballet backround meaning I understand the concepts. I can do a lot of the skills quite well that are in ballet, i just can't do point. Jazz dancing is based a lot on ballet from what i understand. so, in that way, i guess i could say that i have ballet backround. I am just not sure if that is enough to get into a good program. maybe if i take the fall semester off and start in the spring. i could go back to the studio where i teach ballroom and jazz to take begginning ballet classes, that way I am not going into unknown territory if you know what i mean. My parents probably won't approve of that, but my older sister took a year off and then decided to go to nursing school, and it was best for her. She loves what she does. I know I don't want to take a year to decide, but maybe by giving myself extra time to learn, i can get into Wright State like I wanted to. i e-mailed the admissions office about my concers and she is sending me information in the mail answering my questions (hopefully). I truly appreciate all of your input helping me through this. I looked at every single college that everyone suggested. Many of the schools interest me. I guess I just have to keep looking.

By Emilyp114 (Emilyp114) on Friday, February 20, 2004 - 09:00 pm: Edit

Jamimom,

The classes offered through CAP21 or Steinhardt are not outside of the NYU program as such. They are simply classes offered to non-majors. Tisch, in particular, has many classes for non-majors who may want to take arts classes, just not the dance dept.

By Aparent4 (Aparent4) on Thursday, February 26, 2004 - 05:45 pm: Edit

How about the collaboration between Fordham University and the Ailey school?