Learning Goals for the Major

Goals for graduating majors in Dance

Dance majors have the option of emphasizing one of three foci in dance:  choreography and performance, dance scholarship, or somatics.  Our majors are expected to have a scholarly and embodied perspective of their studies regardless of special focus.  In addition, all of our graduating students are expected to:

• attain an intermediate/advanced level of proficiency in contemporary dance techniques;
• cultivate the craft and imagination to choreograph and produce successful, original, contemporary dance works;
• gain experience in the theatrical possibilities of lighting design and digital video;
• achieve a perspective on creative processes across the arts;
• acquire a broad understanding of historical and cultural values expressed through dance;
• understand anatomy and kinesiology in the context of culture and the environment;
• demonstrate the ability to pursue scholarly research and presentation;
• develop the ability to articulate, to those familiar and unfamiliar with the field, the interdisciplinary aspects of dance and the potential for dance to both reflect and impact culture;
• successfully complete an original, independent senior performance project or written thesis that demonstrates the emergence of their own artistic/scholarly voice.