BFA info
Requiring 77-80 credit hours in dance, this program features in-depth interactions that will prepare you to enter the professional world of dance through in-depth interactions with major artists in the field, collaborative experiences within a diverse and interdisciplinary curriculum, and individualized mentoring with our faculty.
When you graduate from this program, you will be prepared to lead the field of dance as a visionary, advocate, performer, choreographer and/or teacher. Learn more about program.
Curriculum
Activate
ACTIVATE refers to a concerted attempt to stimulate students’ interest in the possibilities of study in the Department of Dance. Students’ first year is designed to expose them to several movement practices concurrently. Dance intensively in daily technique courses that include a global spectrum of dance aesthetics and dance forms such as African- Caribbean, Ballet, Contemporary, Hip-hop, House, Jazz, Modern, Tap, Umfundalai and Vogue in light-filled studios with live musicians. Perform in world class theaters in one of our five annual seasons at the Krannert Center for the Performing Arts, or activate your personal style in campus musicals, or site-specific happenings. First-year students kick off the year with a performance in a mainstage theater!
Delve
DELVE, as a Sophomore theme, exposes students to the possibilities of dance-making. Improvisation and Creative Process experiences will be taught in tandem in one scheduled block. Learn how to care for your body through mindfulness practices, and build a sustainable dance career through career preparation courses and programs such as Yoga Certification or a Musical Theatre Minor.
Articulate
The Junior Year in the Department of Dance avails an opportunity for students to choose a trajectory that emerges from their evolving research interests. The goal is to equip students’ development of a focus of study. In year ARTICULATE, students have had sufficient experiences in the dance curriculum to intelligently concretize their program of study, BA or BFA. Students also propose their senior thesis projects.
Unique to the junior year is the choice to study abroad or create and design their own program of dancing technique, context, and creative process. ARTICULATE encompasses a spectrum of learning experiences that move the student toward “articulating” their trajectory in dance beyond Illinois. Explore how dance influences the way we think, the way we shape cultures, and the way we live in our bodies through integrative courses in history, theory, anatomy, somatic studies, music, and teaching.
Launch
Launch
Senior Year is themed LAUNCH to emphasize the notion that students will be encouraged to mobilize the skills they have acquired within the Department of Dance and explore a new level of investigation. Senior Year LAUNCHES students into deeper levels of thinking, dancing, and being. Interact with our vast network of artists to create possibilities for your future. Synthesize your studies as you produce your own work in a senior thesis concert. Create, write, watch, travel, discuss, and perform as you further define who you are as an artist and where you will take your vision.