Dance majors?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

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Anonymous wrote:Muhlenberg College in PA is worth a look. Strong arts, including dance. Students can major or minor in dance and it’s a liberal arts school so many other majors to choose from.

This is a big favorite on the Dance Parent Board.

The most difficult to please child on that board finally landed there and stayed to finish.

Ha ha, this made me laugh. "The most difficult to please child."

I was trying to figure out how to phrase it. She is...finicky? I don't know, but Muhlenberg is the 4th and final school for her. She first accepted then didn't go to Goucher, then accepted and didn't go to LMU, then finally showed up at Dean, spent a year, then transferred to Muhlenberg to do junior and senior year. The 2 years she didn't go to the schools, she stayed home to be a company trainee and do community college classes.

She is the 3rd daughter of a military family and has a form of autism. Seems like a nice girl, just changed her mind a bazillion times.

[Anonymous]

Applying as a dance major can be a great strategy for a great dancer with less than stellar stats. At many schools it's easy to change your major once you're there.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Applying as a dance major can be a great strategy for a great dancer with less than stellar stats. At many schools it's easy to change your major once you're there.

Pretty sure that is how my daughter got a full admit vs a bridge program at one school. She was admitted to dance then got the full admit.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Applying as a dance major can be a great strategy for a great dancer with less than stellar stats. At many schools it's easy to change your major once you're there.

Pretty sure that is how my daughter got a full admit vs a bridge program at one school. She was admitted to dance then got the full admit.

This is our hope for DD. She's a strong student and a strong dancer. Her scores don't match her grades or rigor so she's applying TO to reach and target schools. Her scores are >75 percentile for safeties so she's submitting to those. We're hoping that her talent will outweigh the lack of scores and open doors that might be otherwise closed. We'll report back in a May.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Applying as a dance major can be a great strategy for a great dancer with less than stellar stats. At many schools it's easy to change your major once you're there.

Pretty sure that is how my daughter got a full admit vs a bridge program at one school. She was admitted to dance then got the full admit.

This is our hope for DD. She's a strong student and a strong dancer. Her scores don't match her grades or rigor so she's applying TO to reach and target schools. Her scores are >75 percentile for safeties so she's submitting to those. We're hoping that her talent will outweigh the lack of scores and open doors that might be otherwise closed. We'll report back in a May.

This definitely happens in some schools.

I was talking about my kid being offered a special program with a school where she would have actually attended cc classes while living at the university, so nowhere near the level where your child is.

That said, her SAT score was actually decent for the schools she applied to and may have helped her profile a little/made her case. She just never got the hang of HS.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My dancer will not be majoring in dance. Dance is an activity, not a future.

Luckily for civilization true artists ignore people like you and pursue what they do best.

You child might take dance lessons. That doesn’t necessarily make them a dancer.

[Anonymous]

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Anonymous wrote:My dancer will not be majoring in dance. Dance is an activity, not a future.

There is nothing wrong with a double major. Most students in my dance program had double majors. Most are doctors and laywers now.
Others opened studios or become college dance professors.

A double major is for recreational dancers which is nice. Dance programs have dancers in the studio full time

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My dancer will not be majoring in dance. Dance is an activity, not a future.

There is nothing wrong with a double major. Most students in my dance program had double majors. Most are doctors and laywers now.
Others opened studios or become college dance professors.

A double major is for recreational dancers which is nice. Dance programs have dancers in the studio full time

Spoken as someone who has no experience with the range of college level dance programs what.so.ever.

[Anonymous]

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Anonymous wrote:Does anyone have experience with George Mason’s dance program? I saw a performance at the Center for the Arts last spring and was impressed with the caliber of dancers and choreography I saw. Truly exceptional. DD doesn’t want to stay so close to home, and the campus is a bit dull, but the dance program seemed very strong.

It is an excellent program as long as you don't want to perform ballets.

Ballet dancers usually study with companies rather than at college. They may go later, but ballet is just a younger more vocational focus. Modern and jazz totally different. Friend of mine was in tech and started dancing modern in his 30s. Was an athlete on hs and college. Ended up dancing professionally with Martha Graham.

I am well aware...which is why I only applied to colleges where I could still perform ballets or a few more years.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Applying as a dance major can be a great strategy for a great dancer with less than stellar stats. At many schools it's easy to change your major once you're there.

It's not a "great strategy' because "great dancers" get nothing out of colllege. They are too old. They should be in dance companies by then.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Does anyone have experience with George Mason’s dance program? I saw a performance at the Center for the Arts last spring and was impressed with the caliber of dancers and choreography I saw. Truly exceptional. DD doesn’t want to stay so close to home, and the campus is a bit dull, but the dance program seemed very strong.

It is an excellent program as long as you don't want to perform ballets.

George Mason is great. Our funny experience there was with a very engaging, recent grad, a male, talking about his entrance into dance....as a sophomore at Mason when they needed a male dancer and asked him to take a class. So fast forward, he had since graduated and had opened a small studio ( and he had another non dance related job). But I'm sure the room full of female dancers, many of whom began at
three, noted that he seemed to be saying that he basically began dancing at around twenty. If you have a son who wants to dance, I suspect his presence will be highly valued at most schools. 😉

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Fordham has a program with Alvin Ailey in NYC...worth a look.

+1 amazing program

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Does anyone have experience with George Mason’s dance program? I saw a performance at the Center for the Arts last spring and was impressed with the caliber of dancers and choreography I saw. Truly exceptional. DD doesn’t want to stay so close to home, and the campus is a bit dull, but the dance program seemed very strong.

It is an excellent program as long as you don't want to perform ballets.

George Mason is great. Our funny experience there was with a very engaging, recent grad, a male, talking about his entrance into dance....as a sophomore at Mason when they needed a male dancer and asked him to take a class. So fast forward, he had since graduated and had opened a small studio ( and he had another non dance related job). But I'm sure the room full of female dancers, many of whom began at
three, noted that he seemed to be saying that he basically began dancing at around twenty. If you have a son who wants to dance, I suspect his presence will be highly valued at most schools. 😉

This is nothing new nor surprising. Dance programs need men, especially strong ones who can lift grown adults above their heads. I’ve seen Mason male dancers. They are unbelievably strong and they need to be. I’ll bet your friend was an athlete already, not some dude off the street. A well trained male dancer can write his own ticket.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My dancer will not be majoring in dance. Dance is an activity, not a future.

There is nothing wrong with a double major. Most students in my dance program had double majors. Most are doctors and laywers now.
Others opened studios or become college dance professors.

A double major is for recreational dancers which is nice. Dance programs have dancers in the studio full time

Spoken as someone who has no experience with the range of college level dance programs what.so.ever.

Most colleges don’t turn out professional dancers. It’s the conservatories and training programs attached to companies that do. It’s possible in Recreational programs but training at this level requires full time training.

[Anonymous]

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Anonymous wrote:As long as she stays away from UMD she should be ok. UMD grads are unemployable.

What makes you stay this? UMD is DD’s first choice.

The lack of audition process means that only the worst dancers go there. The faculty is incredibly weak and has little to work with. Not only do they have trouble getting hired but we won't hire anyone that was taught by a UMD grad.

Even students that enter with some skill will not keep pace with peers elsewhere. I sit on the otherside if the table and toss the resumes. Too many have underperformed to even bither.

Are you hiring for teaching or performing roles? Doesn’t UMD have a scholarship awarded to talented dancers by audition? If you’re hiring for performing roles, wouldn’t the audition speak louder than the school?

bother.

Both. Haven't had a competent audition in 5 years. The really strong local schools don't hire them to teach.

I’m sorry I’m not trying to out you but to understand more from your perspective. DD is planning to audition for several dance programs next year - including the local ones mentioned here - but UMD has a much stronger academic program and she wants to double major. Her goal is to dance in college at a fairly high (but not top) level and hopefully in a company someday, but doesn’t plan to make her living through dance. Is UMD’s program strong enough to provide those kinds of opportunities?

Not likely employable for a dance company.

How about strong schools that offer dance minors and/or strong companies - Princeton, W&M, Wesleyan, Vassar? Or other schools offering BA dance degrees like GW, AU, or Connecticut College?

Pretty solid options. Even Harvard has a dance major. The current group of GW and AU students are doing well in the working world.

My daughter is a sophomore, dance major at Towson. Her goal is to own her own studio and teach, she does not want a performative career though many at Towson do. She applied and got into the typical schools dancers all seem to pursue (except Montclair State, did not get into the dance program) She did get into the dance programs at JMU, VCU, George Mason, Radford and American. UMD was a little too modern based on reputation so she did not apply. She has a chronic illness so decided to stay closely in Md. She loved Towson, it's demanding and I have to say pretty slow on offering any accommodations for disabilities (she has a syndrome that causes fatigue and has some Dr's appts. Even after disability office approved her status the dance dept lagged behind and made it hard). She really had to advocate for herself to not be penalized with a lower grade for missing a dance class due to a necessary doctor's appt for example. Which seems crazy to me but that tells you about the expectations. And maybe about dance culture in general. Though different schools may have different tolerances.

We walked out of a dance program we attended at GW when she was a senior in high school. It was poorly choreographed. And American's program was difficult to gage, it was hard to know when they even had shows, so despite getting in, she felt like the school really did not invest in the dance program. We could be wrong on that. Best wishes to your daughter.

We had the same impression of AU’s dance program. It was hard to get a strong read on the quality but the facilities were so lacking, it’s clear the university undervalues dance. In a gorgeous arts building full of windows, we saw one dark studio in the basement with low ceilings. Work spaces matter, especially when dancers spend so much time in them. I’m curious about GW’s program. Did you see a student show or faculty show? I believe the faculty is well respected. Did you see the Corcoran spaces or was the performance elsewhere? GW is a contender for DD academically, but we’re not as familiar with the dance department yet and it’s really expensive.