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My daughter wants to major in dance. Where are the good dance programs? Lots of schools offer a dance major, but how can you tell what makes a great program? HELP!!

By Thedad (Thedad) on Wednesday, January 29, 2003 - 02:42 pm: Edit

Hey, DanceMom, my daughter is a serious ballet student...Level VII at her school, on pointe for 3-1/2 years, will be a soloist in the Nutcracker next year, yada yada.

The best point of departure we've found is the DANCE MAGAZINE COLLEGE GUIDE. We have the 2001-2002 edition; don't know when the 2002-2003 is coming out.
Several articles and then a L-O-N-G chart with more than 400 colleges mentioned.

From that point of departure, you have to do more investigating. For instance if the chart notes a "B" for ballet--my daughter has no interest in modern, jazz, or ethnic--it doesn't say how much.

For instance, George Washington has only two levels of ballet: beginning and intermediate. Georgetown doesn't have it at all. In either case, my daughter would have to go to Washington Ballet and take the adult classes there...a nusiance in terms of time & transportation.

For high end schools, both Barnard/Columbia and Smith have six levels of ballet and two levels of pointe.

If your daughter doesn't have high academics as a requirement, both University of Utah and one of the Indiana state schools have excellent dance programs. But the guide will give you more than 400 choices to start exploring.

Good luck.

By Thedad (Thedad) on Wednesday, January 29, 2003 - 02:43 pm: Edit

Postscript. Some schools have it as an official extracurricular. Harvard is one such; the advanced ballet teacher is also with Boston Ballet's Center for Dance Education.

By Marcie on Wednesday, January 29, 2003 - 02:44 pm: Edit

I suggest you buy this book:
The Performing Arts Major's College Guide, 3rd ed, by Carole J. Everett, former director of admissions at Juilliard. It covers dance, drama, and music. She rates them and gives lots of specifics, discusses different types of dance, also a list of the top programs, info on summer programs, info on auditions. Definitely very helpful.

Big difference if she wants ballet plus modern, just ballet, or just modern. As I understand it, tap, jazz, and lyrical aren't too big in college. My daughter is a former dancer, now in theatre.

You need to decide what kind of dance she wants, what area of country, and how competitive a program she can attempt to get into. Also if she wants a more general college education with dance major or a conservatory just concentrating on dance.

Get the book; it will help you start sorting through things. Also talk to any moms of older students you can find for info.

By Thedad (Thedad) on Wednesday, January 29, 2003 - 05:16 pm: Edit

Marcie's post reminds me that one thing to
check out is where "Dance" is located within
the university.

At UCLA, for instance, it's part of the "World Arts and Culture" department...lots of emphasis on ethnic, virtually none on ballet.

Dance as its own department or part of Drama/Theater seems to be best.

Northwestern, iirc, has it paired with "Speech."

By asdf on Sunday, February 16, 2003 - 04:37 pm: Edit

Northern Illinois University has a very strong ballet program. Julliard's program has more of a modern emphasis than a ballet emphasis. University of Utah and Indiana University are state schools with admirable ballet programs. Butler University in Indiana also has a strong ballet program. Northwestern's dance program is more modern based than ballet based.

By asdf on Sunday, February 16, 2003 - 04:41 pm: Edit

Additionally, Columbia College in Chicago has a decent modern based program.

By Rock_Star_31 (Rock_Star_31) on Tuesday, April 08, 2003 - 12:47 pm: Edit

I'm going to Point Park College and they have a fabulous Dance program. You choose your emphasis of either Ballet, Jazz, or Modern. They have rolling admission so you should check it out. It's located in Pittsburgh, PA.

By Dancerforever (Dancerforever) on Saturday, September 13, 2003 - 04:05 pm: Edit

Hi, I'm having a difficult finding a college that would allow me to take classes for dance (Jazz and Lyrical),Theatre, and Voice. I want to take a career in starting my own school for kids k-12, that performs musicals, such as The Sound of Music, or Annie. I'd also like to write some of my own musicals. Any Ideas on colleges I should look into would be greatly appreciated!