Undergraduate Programs
Undergraduate Programs
The Dance Center's curriculum demands active engagement from our students - from the moment they begin their first class through to their graduation day. Dancing is a daily practice.
The curriculum is structured around three broad areas of study: physical dance training rooted in contemporary, modern dance training and practice; artistic practice in improvisation, choreography and performance; and intellectual foundations of historical, cultural and theoretical contexts for dance. Our students are required to advance through multiple skill levels of dance technique via a rigorous training process that includes classes in both contemporary (modern) dance and ballet. Additional courses in contact improvisation, jazz, hip hop, and world dance forms are offered to round out students' exposure to all forms of dance.
The curriculum also focuses on developing skill, personal voice, and maturity in the dance artist - as dancer, choreographer and teacher. As they progress through our technique requirements, students also learn about and practice dance improvisation and composition, music and rhythmic analysis, dance history, body sciences, cultural studies, and concert dance production. The BA degree is a liberal arts degree that offers a broad range of studies in dance. The BFA degree offers an immersive dance education, which prepares students for professional employment upon graduation. The BFA degree culminates in capstone coursework in either dance making or teaching, while allowing students to advance in the areas of dance studies and performance.
Our program places high emphasis on creative endeavor. Throughout their matriculation students enjoy numerous opportunities to perform and to create their own dances. Concerts featuring student choreography and performances highlight each semester.
For more detailed information on each degree track, go to:
Undergraduate Degree Requirements for 2012/2013
Degree Requirements
BFA Dance with a Concentration in Dancemaking
BFA Dance with a Concentration in Pedagogy
Upon Graduation
The Dance Center prepares students for varied career paths within or beyond the dance field. Graduates of our program have a solid record of continuing activity and success in dance and related fields. Dance Department alumni have gone on to dance in major New York dance companies, teach dance within a full range of institutions from private studios to universities, form their own dance companies and produce their own work, enter dance and performing arts management careers, pursue advanced degrees in dance education, choreography and dance therapy and further their qualifications with certifications in K-12 teaching and somatic practices such as Pilates and massage therapy, and more.
The Dance Center of Columbia College Chicago offers college-bound students interested in dance the opportunity to engage in a comprehensive, highly disciplined, and exciting program of physical and intellectual study and creative endeavor. Students find Columbia's dance department competitive, yet supportive; a place where they become part of Chicago's thriving arts community where they're encouraged to audition for professional opportunities, meet and study with working dance artists, and develop their own distinctive artistic voice in dance. Challenging technique courses across a range of styles, combined with the study of improvisation, composition, dance history and theory, music and technical theater, provide students with essential learning and prepare them for professional and graduate endeavors in dance. Many of these classes are also open to the public.
On completion of the program, our graduates are:
* Skilled contemporary dancers with substantial performance abilities
* Able to actively engage in dancemaking through choreography, improvisation and performance
* Knowledgeable concerning historical, cultural, scientific and theoretical information and perspectives on dance
* Knowledgeable concerning dance, pedagogical practices and functional body mechanics
* Able to describe, analyze and interpret dance works
