Welcome!
It is a pleasure to introduce our Dance Program to you and encourage you to further investigate Middlebury College as the community in which to pursue your undergraduate career.
The Dance Program, with facilities in Middlebury's spectacular Center for the Arts, offers major, joint major and minor courses of study as well as an environment that invites non-majors to dance. While our dance program is small, faculty is accessible and daily work is supported by a talented staff of musicians, a Lighting Designer/Technical Director and administrative staff. We host many concerts, master classes and lectures open to the general community. Guest choreographers share their work throughout the year, sometimes including students in creative process and performance, but always offering master classes, lectures and similar opportunities for personal contact.
Creative work lies at the heart of our program and provides a constant source of renewable, artistic energy. Our core curriculum consists of a series of courses in contemporary approaches to technique, composition and performance, experiential anatomy, dance history, creative process, and improvisation. Further depth and range, tailored to the strengths and interests of each student, are achieved through study in theatre, art, music, philosophy and other disciplines represented in the larger Middlebury curriculum.
Joint and full dance majors propose independent projects in their senior years. Projects, which often culminate in performance, are designed to deepen learning and cultivate special areas of research or creative interest. Many of our students study abroad during their junior year joining programs all over the world that support their investigations of dance in other cultures.
The Dance Company of Middlebury (DCM) is a jewel in our crown. A for-credit course, DCM is faculty or guest-artist directed but almost always includes student choreography in some form. It is a touring ensemble providing advanced experience for dancers and choreographers. Open by yearly audition to sophomores, juniors and seniors, DCM produces original performance work and tours to locations in the US and abroad. Some years are spent closer to home, performing in schools and communities in neighboring states, others take the Company as far as the west coast, Europe or Latin America.
Our alumni perform in professional dance companies; choreograph independently; teach in colleges, universities and preparatory schools; and are enrolled in graduate programs across the country.
If you find you are serious about dance at Middlebury, I encourage you to visit, take a class, and talk with students and faculty. Email our liaison to admissions for Dance, Tiffany Rhynard, in advance to be sure someone is available to meet you. If a visit is impossible, include a DVD of yourself dancing (indicate which dancer you are) and a letter describing your interest in dance as part of your formal Middlebury application.