Whether you aspire to join a professional dance company, perform in musical theater, teach dance or move on to graduate study, your dance education at AU will be diverse and thorough enough to prepare you for your future in dance.
Your dance studies will require 120 credits through which you’ll have the unique opportunity to study ballet, jazz, tap and modern; many dance programs elsewhere limit your choices to ballet, modern or both.
Here is a sample of the courses you take:
Dance Improvisation: Learn how to create dance in the moment, then translate those creative improvisations into phrases you can use to craft your own choreography. Professors offer different prompts and tools to help you create new movements.
Dance Pedagogy: You’ll combine three types of learning in this course: 1) classroom learning about how to teach and what are best practices, 2) observations of dance teachers instructing in real-time and 3) teaching classes of your own at five grade levels, from middle school to college
Dance Masterclass: Visiting professors will demonstrate genres of dance not covered in your regular course curriculum. Irish, hip hop, African and salsa are examples of styles your masterclass instructors will teach.
In addition to classes you have the opportunity each fall semester to audition for dance ensembles and student choreography projects that will augment your learning.
Career Outlook
Because AU’s dance program offers a wide range of study within dance, your education equips you for numerous opportunities. Graduates can become a member of a professional dance company, a performer in musical theater a dance teacher, a studio owner, or a dance critic. You also will be prepared to enter a graduate dance program to advance your skill as a dancer or receive training for specialized careers, such as a dance therapist.