To find out, ask yourself: Do my dance experiences make me want to do more? Am I willing to spend hours practicing and rehearsing to perfect my dance skills? Would I like to be a dancer or choreographer? Do I enjoy performing and watching others perform? Would I like to teach dance? Do I watch how other people move? Do I communicate through movement?
The Department of Music and Dance offers a Bachelor of Arts (B.A.) in dance. Within this degree, you will have the opportunity to fashion a dance program according to your interests and plans. You can combine dance classes in ballet, modern, and jazz with courses in dance history, movement analysis, dance improvisation, choreography, and dance for children.
A minor or a concentration in dance could be combined with another major. For example, a dance minor and a journalism major can open the doors to a career in writing about dance. You can combine a dance concentration with such majors as business, psychology, English, history, anthropology, and exercise science. The combinations are limited only by your interests and creativity.
You will be admitted based on your high school record and ACT scores. Placement in dance is determined the first week of classes.
Many non-degree programs can help you improve your dance technique, but with a KU education you also will be a broadly educated person.
Just as dance classes will discipline your body, classes in the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences will discipline your mind. Courses in English, humanities, and social sciences will introduce you to a world of ideas. Your mind and body will be challenged to work together to find new ways to express an array of feelings and ideas through movement.
A degree, with its academic emphasis, will give you additional career options whether or not you decide to pursue a performing career. Many dance-related careers such as dance therapy, college teaching, business administration, management of an arts foundation or company, movement analysis, and work with fitness centers and athletic teams require a college education.
You will need 125 credit hours to earn a B.A. in dance. Most students take about 17 credit hours, or five courses, a semester. You will take dance technique classes each semester, and you will put in long hours in a dance studio or in rehearsal for the many performances at KU each year.
The department’s six dance faculty members have international reputations.
Muriel Cohan, former soloist in the works of Mary Anthony and Anna Sokolow, is an artistic director of the Cohan/ Suzeau Duet Company.
Janet Hamburg is a certified Laban Movement Analyst. She presents research at national and international conferences and is a guest teacher at the Laban/Bartenieff Institute in New York City.
Jerel Hilding was a principal dancer with the Joffrey Ballet for 15 years, performing in works by many of the 20th century’s most influential choreographers, including Balanchine, Arpino, Robbins, and Ashton.
Willie Lenoir teaches and choreographs jazz and modern dance based on the techniques of master dance artists Fred Benjamin, Gus Giordano, Matt Mattox, Alvin Ailey, and José Limón.
Joan Stone has a background in anthropology and history as well as dance. She researches and reconstructs historic dances for performance.
Patrick Suzeau tours with the Cohan/Suzeau Duet Company and is guest soloist in East Indian classical dance. A teacher and choreographer of ballet and modern dance, he is also a certified Laban Movement Analyst.
|
First Semester |
Hours |
|
ENGL 101 Composition |
3 |
|
SOC 104 Elements of Sociology |
3 |
|
FREN 110 Elementary French I |
5 |
|
DANC 150 Dance Improvisation |
2 |
|
DANC 201 Intermediate Ballet I |
2 |
|
DANC 203 Intermediate Modern Dance I |
2 |
|
Total |
17 |
|
Second Semester |
Hours |
|
ENGL 102 Composition and Literature |
3 |
|
PSYC 104 General Psychology |
3 |
|
FREN 120 Elementary French II |
5 |
|
DANC 210 Rhythms and Structures of Music |
1 |
|
DANC 202 Intermediate Ballet II |
2 |
|
DANC 204 Intermediate Modern Dance II or |
2 |
|
DANC 320 University Dance Company |
1 |
|
Total |
17 |
There are many opportunities for you to make dance your career. More dance, in more styles, is being produced than ever before.
You could perform with a dance company, direct a company, or work behind the scenes as a costumer or stage manager. You could work in commercial dance as a choreographer or performer, become a dance therapist, or use computers for dance notation and composition. You could teach children, adults, or older adults in schools, studios, arts centers, senior centers, fitness and wellness centers, colleges, and universities.
Your bachelor’s degree in dance also will give you a solid education and a sophisticated, goal-oriented approach to learning and problem solving. These skills will give you an edge in any career.
Department scholarships are available to talented incoming dance majors. In your sophomore or junior year you might qualify for the Elizabeth Sherbon or Phillips-Stone Dance Awards, which recognize outstanding achievement in dance. To receive a scholarship, you must be accepted by KU as a dance major, and you must apply and audition for a scholarship. Auditions are in early March for the next academic year.
For information about scholarships based on academic merit, diversity, major, and residence, write or call the University of Kansas, Office of Admissions and Scholarships, KU Visitor Center, 1502 Iowa Street, Lawrence, KS 66045, (785) 864-3911 (www.admissions.ku.edu).
For information about grants, loans, and other need-based financial aid, write or call KU’s Office of Student Financial Aid, 50 Strong Hall, Lawrence, KS 66045-1920, (785) 864-4700.
For more information about the department and for answers to questions about scholarships, auditions, and advising, contact KU’s Department of Music and Dance, 400 Murphy Hall, Lawrence, KS 66045, (785) 864-4264. Or visit the Department of Music and Dance Web site (www.music.ku.edu).
You may decide that a career in dance or a dance-related field is not for you. Your courses in the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences can be applied to many other KU majors. Remember, you don’t have to be a dance major to perform or study dance at KU.
The high quality and breadth of your education is one great reason for coming to KU. The College of Liberal Arts and Sciences, in which you will take many classes, offers hundreds of courses and has excellent faculty members. You also will meet many international students and teachers who bring a cultural richness to campus and who will introduce you to diverse viewpoints and customs.
KU’s Lied Center Series includes the Concert Series, Swarthout Chamber Music Series, New Directions Series, Broadway and Beyond Series, and the Lied Family Series, bringing outstanding performers to campus each year. Such musicians and dancers as the London and San Francisco symphony orchestras, Stars of the New York City Ballet, and Paul Taylor, Alvin Ailey, and Limón dance companies are among the artists and groups that have enhanced students’ education.
You will work with professional specialists in your area of interest, and you will encounter a steady stream of guest artists, guest lecturers, and special events. Internationally known dancers visit the KU campus each year and work with students in master classes and rehearsals. The internationally touring Cohan/Suzeau Duet Company is in residence at KU.
The department offers many performance opportunities to prepare you for the professional stage. You will dance with the University Dance Company, which presents two major concerts a year in KU’s Lied Center of Kansas. You will gain additional experience in informal concerts and dance demonstrations. Musical theatre and opera productions provide performance options.
Department-Specific Requirements:
Department of Art Admissions
Department of Design Admissions
Department of Music & Dance Admissions
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The University of Kansas School of Fine Arts Lawrence, KS 66045 785/864-3421 |
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