Skip to content
Block I logo
University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign
Home page
College of Fine & Applied Arts Department of Dance
Skip over sidebar nav to the content section

What We Dance – Curriculum

By studying differing perspectives in dance technique, history, theory and creative processes, students gain movement and creative versatility, gain awareness of cultural histories and become strong advocates for social justice in their communities.

two dancers, one in foreground in motion
group of dancers with arms out in one direction
group of dancers with arms up
two dancers with "ugly" text written on one arm
group of dancers with feet off the ground
group of dancers looking at camera
two dancers, one in foreground in motion
group of dancers with arms out in one direction
group of dancers with arms up
two dancers with "ugly" text written on one arm
group of dancers with feet off the ground
group of dancers looking at camera

placeholder

Dance With Us

Strategic efforts toward diversifying our curriculum are ongoing and include the following:

What We Dance

2023–2025 The department has been successful in implementing our new curriculum. The revised curriculum does not diminish technical rigor; rather, it expands upon it by incorporating a broader, more inclusive range of dance forms. This approach is designed to cultivate a wider cultural perspective through equitable exposure to diverse dance traditions beyond the Western concert dance canon. Ongoing considerations include continued communication with students about pedagogical goals and encouraging more collaboration amongst faculty across the various dance techniques
2019-2022 Reimagining the Curriculum: The BA/BFA curriculums were redesigned to address the systemic racism and other bias found in the policies, requirements, nomenclature, syllabi content, and practices of our curriculum.
2016–2019 New dance courses were established and/or re-designed to fulfill the US Minorities general education requirement - DANC 125: Black Dances of Resistance, DANC 340: Dancing Black Popular Culture.
2015 The MFA curriculum was revised to embrace multiple perspectives and interdisciplinary research.
2000 African Diasporic and western European forms were consistently offered as core course for degree programs. African, hip-hop, and/or capoeira techniques were offered on a regular basis to majors/non-majors.
Cookie Settings