Next spring, Mia Sanderson will graduate from University of South Carolina’s Betsy Blackmon Dance Program with two degrees, completing four years of dance and advertising curriculums that now position her for several career options: Will it be professional company life or marketing for a dance organization? Maybe even musical theater, she says.  “I’ve definitely become a better […]

On a Friday afternoon on the last day of May, Donna Faye Burchfield was sitting on her deck in Philadelphia when a newspaper notification popped up on her friend’s phone: University of the Arts, where Burchfield had been dean of the School of Dance since 2010, was closing its doors in a week—for good. Were […]

Dance careers generally don’t last forever—many dancers even transition into second careers during or after their years onstage. Because Point Park University recognizes this reality, it’s preparing its students for the many chapters in their dance journeys, starting with the first day they step on campus in Pittsburgh. To that end, Point Park is now offering a […]

The dance world is changing. And at Marymount Manhattan College, the Department of Dance’s newly reimagined curriculum is reflecting those changes with an eye towards equity. Until this year, MMC’s BA and BFA programs focused heavily on ballet and modern techniques. Now, the curriculum requires incoming students to place equal weight on modern, ballet, jazz (including a course entitled Embodied Africanist Aesthetics), […]

Because job security can be hard to come by in the dance world, there’s an understandable appeal to full-time professorships in college and university dance programs. The path to get there can seem elusive, however—and the requirements of the job extend beyond teaching and choreography. Two dance professors—Jason Ohlberg, Skidmore College associate professor and asso­ciate […]

Despite all the hours young dancers spend in the studio, for many coming out of high school, the idea of dance as an academic discipline—an intellectual as much as a physical pursuit—can be unfamiliar, even mysterious. What do college dance programs actually require? What do students’ days look like? A college’s faculty, size, location, and […]

When Genevieve Waldorf was a senior in high school, she felt conflicted about what to do next. “You’re on this cusp of deciding your future,” remembers the Pacific Northwest Ballet corps dancer. “I knew I wanted to go to college—it was really important for me to receive higher education and earn a degree. But I also wanted to pursue a career in professional dance.” Rather than choose just one path, Waldorf made the then-unconventional decision not to decide.

Between balancing dance classes with academic requirements and rehearsal schedules with studying, college dance students have plenty on their minds. What shouldn’t be added to that list? Whether the studio floors they’re spending their days on will cause injury or discomfort. Thanks to Harlequin Floors, students and professors at a growing number of colleges know […]