Program Overview

Overview of the Dance Program

The University of Colorado Boulder offers a well-established, nationally recognized dance program that encourages the pursuit of one’s artistic voice, embodied scholarship, and pedagogical exploration. The program is designed to use dance and the body to challenge assumptions about practices, values, technology, and sustainability.

Requirements

To complete the Bachelor of Arts in Dance, students must fulfill the general requirements of the College of Arts and Sciences and the required courses listed below.

Required Courses and Credits

• Required Lower-Division Courses:
  • DNCE 1012: Dance Production (2 credits)
  • DNCE 1013: Dance Improvisation (2 credits)
  • DNCE 1027: Dance in Cultural Perception and Expression (3 credits)
  • DNCE 1908: First Year Dance Seminar (1 credit)
  • DNCE 2501: African Dance (2 credits)
• Required Major Technique Courses: Take 6 credit hours from the following courses:
  • DNCE 2021: Major Technique
  • DNCE 3041: Major Technique
  • DNCE 4061: Major Technique
• Upper-Division Music Course: Choose one of the following courses:
  • DNCE 3014: Inside the Groove: Developing Rhythmic Skills
  • DNCE 3024: SOUND Choices: Enhancing the Music/Dance Relationship
• Upper-Division Creative Process Course: Choose one of the following courses:
  • DNCE 3033: Choreographic Resources
  • DNCE 3043: Choreographic Process
• Required Production Practicum Courses: Take 2 credit hours of production practicum, including 1 credit of Run Crew.
  • DNCE 3035: Production Practicum
• Required Upper-Division Courses:
  • DNCE 3005: Movement Awareness and Injury Prevention for the Dancer (3 credits)
  • DNCE 4017: Dancing Histories: Sex, Gender and Race in U.S. Concert Dance (3 credits)
  • DNCE 4036: Dance Teaching Practices: Inclusive Approaches to Instruction (3 credits)
  • DNCE 4939: Dance Internship (1 credit)
  • THTR 4029: Performance and Community Engagement (3 credits)
  • THTR 4081: Senior Seminar (3 credits)
• Electives in Dance Technique: Take 6 credit hours of DNCE courses with course numbers that end in 1.
• Required Theatre Production Course: Choose one of the following courses:
  • THTR 2105: Introduction to Performance Design
  • THTR 3005: Costume Design 1
  • THTR 3015: Scene Design 1
  • THTR 3045: Stage Management
  • THTR 3055: Stage Lighting Design 1
  • THTR 3075: Sound Design
  • THTR 4035: Scene Painting
  • THTR 4055: Stage Lighting Design 2
  • THTR 4095: Special Topics in Theatre Design and Technology (Some sections including Tailoring or Product Design)
  • THTR 4105: Theatre Make-Up Design
  • THTR 4175: Conceptualization
  • THTR 5025: Costume Patterning and Construction

Graduating in Four Years

Consult the Four-Year Guarantee Requirements for more information on eligibility. The concept of "adequate progress" as it is used here only refers to maintaining eligibility for the four-year guarantee; it is not a requirement for the major.

Recommended Four-Year Plan of Study

Through the required coursework for the major, students will fulfill all 12 credits of the Arts & Humanities area of the Gen Ed Distribution Requirement and will fulfill the Global Perspective category in the Gen Ed Diversity Requirement.

Year One

• Fall Semester:
  • DNCE 1012: Dance Production (2 credits)
  • DNCE 1027: Dance in Cultural Perception and Expression (3 credits)
  • DNCE 1908: First Year Dance Seminar (1 credit)
  • DNCE 2021: Major Technique (2 credits)
  • Gen. Ed. Distribution course (example: Natural Science and Lab) (4 credits)
  • Gen. Ed. Skills course (example: Lower-division Written Communication) (3 credits)
• Spring Semester:
  • DNCE 1013: Dance Improvisation (2 credits)
  • DNCE 3035: Production Practicum (1 credit)
  • DNCE 3041: Major Technique (2 credits)
  • Gen. Ed. Skills course (example: QRMS) (3 credits)
  • Gen. Ed. Distribution course (example: Natural Sciences) (3 credits)
  • Elective (3 credits)

Year Two

• Fall Semester:
  • DNCE 2501: African Dance (2 credits)
  • THTR 4029: Performance and Community Engagement (3 credits)
  • Gen. Ed. Distribution/Diversity course (example: Social Sciences/US Perspective) (3 credits)
  • Elective (4 credits)
  • Elective (3 credits)
• Spring Semester:
  • DNCE 3005: Movement Awareness and Injury Prevention for the Dancer (3 credits)
  • DNCE 3035: Production Practicum (1 credit)
  • Additional DNCE Technique (2 credits)
  • Gen. Ed. Distribution course (example: Natural Sciences) (3 credits)
  • Elective (3 credits)
  • Elective (3 credits)

Year Three

• Fall Semester:
  • DNCE 3014 or DNCE 3024: Inside the Groove: Developing Rhythmic Skills or SOUND Choices: Enhancing the Music/Dance Relationship (2 credits)
  • DNCE 4036: Dance Teaching Practices: Inclusive Approaches to Instruction (3 credits)
  • Additional DNCE Technique (1 credit)
  • Gen. Ed. Distribution/Diversity course (example: Social Sciences) (3 credits)
  • Gen. Ed. Skills course (example: Upper-division Written Communication) (3 credits)
  • Elective (3 credits)
• Spring Semester:
  • DNCE 3033 or DNCE 3043: Choreographic Resources or Choreographic Process (3 credits)
  • DNCE 4061: Major Technique (2 credits)
  • Gen. Ed. Distribution course (example: Social Sciences) (3 credits)
  • Required Theatre Production Course (3 credits)
  • Elective (3 credits)

Year Four

• Fall Semester:
  • DNCE 4017: Dancing Histories: Sex, Gender and Race in U.S. Concert Dance (3 credits)
  • DNCE 4939: Dance Internship (1 credit)
  • Additional DNCE Technique (2 credits)
  • Gen. Ed. Distribution course (example: Natural Sciences) (3 credits)
  • Upper-division Elective (3 credits)
  • Upper-division Elective (3 credits)
• Spring Semester:
  • THTR 4081: Senior Seminar (3 credits)
  • Additional DNCE Technique (2 credits)
  • Gen. Ed. Distribution course (example: Social Sciences) (3 credits)
  • Elective or Upper-division Elective (if needed) (3 credits)
  • Upper-division Elective (3 credits)
  • Elective (3 credits)

Learning Outcomes

The following areas of knowledge and experience are central to all the undergraduate degrees in dance:

• Physical accomplishment in a range of dance styles and within fusions of various forms, including contemporary, ballet, jazz, hip-hop, transnational fusion, African dance, performance improvisation, and other dance traditions from around the world.
• Experience with the process and underlying aesthetics of dance creation, composition, and collaboration.
• Basic familiarity with cultural, sociological, and aesthetic issues important to the contemporary realities of the field of dance, including a working knowledge of major world dance styles, works of dance literature, theoretical lenses, and the history of dance.
• Knowledge of the various means, such as stagecraft, costuming, lighting, make-up, production, and projections, through which a public presentation of dance is realized.
• Study and practical experience in dance pedagogy, identifying our purpose, goals, and objectives as future educators.
• Basic knowledge of tactics for sustaining wellness, including various somatic approaches to dance training, injury prevention, and rehabilitation from injury.
• Experiential study of the relationship between dance and music, including concrete practice of skills in playing and hearing music.
• Opportunities to explore the power of performance for effecting positive social change.

In addition, students completing a degree in dance are expected to acquire the ability and skills to:

• Define their positionality as a maker and thinker of art with responsibility and awareness within their local setting and global conversations.
• Create and perform through dance, theatre, design, technology, research, scholarship, and writing.
• Make art that is relevant to their medium of expression, that generates resistance to and expands developed techniques towards contemporary relevance, and aesthetic and artistic excellence.
• Apply diverse theories to critically analyze various performance practices, approaches, compositions, forms, histories, events, and scripts.
• Engage with the histories of their art form and the impact of these histories on contemporary performance challenges and opportunities.
• Build communities of greater equity and inclusion within the cultures of theatre and dance, and the broader world.
• Cultivate their responsibility as artist-citizens to have a positive impact on the world and the future.