Program Overview

Overview

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.

Requirements

Admission Requirements

• Students who did not pre-audition into the BFA program and who wish to pursue the BFA can audition during the fall semester of their freshman or sophomore year.
• If the student is a sophomore auditioning for the BFA, they must be enrolled in or have taken DNCE 3033 or DNCE 3043 in order to be on track to graduate in four years.
• Application guidelines for the BFA track are posted each fall semester.
• The undergraduate director will notify students of faculty decisions regarding their audition.
• If a student is admitted to the program, they should talk to their primary advisor to have their degree status officially changed from BA to BFA.
• The characteristics that the faculty looks for in BFA students are:
  • Exceptional technical/expressive ability as demonstrated in class work and performance.
  • Choreographic skill or potential as demonstrated through movement invention and appropriate clarity of structure.
  • Willingness and drive necessary to pursue a professional career in dance.
  • Exceptional musicality and rhythmic precision.
  • Maturity, organization, and a positive attitude.

Required Courses and Credit Hours

• Course List Code | Title | Credit Hours
  • DNCE 1012 | Dance Production | 2
  • DNCE 1013 | Dance Improvisation | 2
  • DNCE 1027 | Dance in Cultural Perception and Expression | 3
  • DNCE 1908 | First Year Dance Seminar | 1
  • DNCE 2501 | African Dance | 2
  • DNCE 3005 | Movement Awareness and Injury Prevention for the Dancer | 3
  • DNCE 3014 | Inside the Groove: Developing Rhythmic Skills | 2
  • DNCE 3024 | SOUND Choices: Enhancing the Music/Dance Relationship | 2
  • DNCE 3033 | Choreographic Resources | 3
  • DNCE 3035 | Production Practicum | 1
  • DNCE 3043 | Choreographic Process | 3
  • DNCE 3901 | Technique Practicum | 1-3
  • DNCE 4012 | Concert Production | 1
  • DNCE 4036 | Dance Teaching Practices: Inclusive Approaches to Instruction | 3
  • DNCE 4017 | Dancing Histories: Sex, Gender and Race in U.S. Concert Dance | 3
  • DNCE 4037 | Contemporary Concert Dance: Shifting Perspectives in Performance | 3
  • or DNCE 4047 | Hip-Hop Dance History
  • DNCE 4053 | Advanced Dance Composition | 3
  • DNCE 5052 | Studio Concert | 3
  • THTR 4029 | Performance and Community Engagement | 3
  • THTR 4081 | Senior Seminar | 3
• Electives:
  • Take 12 credit hours of one of the following:
    1. DNCE 2021 | Major Technique
    2. DNCE 3041 | Major Technique
    3. DNCE 4061 | Major Technique
  • Select one of the following:
    • THTR 1003 | Acting 1
    • DNCE 4023 | Performance Improvisation Techniques
    • THTR 4073 | Performing Voices of Women
  • Take 9 credit hours of electives in dance technique with course numbers that end in 1.
  • Select one of the following THTR Production 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 4105 | Theatre Make-Up Design
    • THTR 4175 | Conceptualization
    • THTR 5025 | Costume Patterning and Construction
    • Some sections of the following including Tailoring or Projection Design:
    • THTR 4095 | Special Topics in Theatre Design and Technology
• Total Credit Hours: 72-76

Additional Requirements

• Show original choreographic work each semester in Open Space, FRESH, or Dance Class Showings.
• Present a concert in conjunction with other senior BFA's in the spring of their senior year.
• By December of their junior year, the student must have formed a committee of two faculty members who will evaluate their concert.
• The student and First Reader (lead faculty member) of the committee will complete a BFA Concert Form that is given to the Director of Dance Production by January 31 junior year.
• Maintain a 3.2 GPA in required dance and theatre courses.

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 of the Gen Ed Diversity Requirement.
• Plan of Study Grid:
  • Year One:
    • Fall Semester:
      • DNCE 1012 | Dance Production | 2
      • DNCE 1027 | Dance in Cultural Perception and Expression | 3
      • DNCE 1908 | First Year Dance Seminar | 1
      • DNCE 2021 | Major Technique | 2
      • Gen. Ed. Distribution course (example: Natural Sciences with Lab) | 4
      • Gen. Ed. Skills course (example: Lower-division Written Communication) | 3
    • Spring Semester:
      • DNCE 1013 | Dance Improvisation | 2
      • DNCE 3041 | Major Technique | 2
      • DNCE 3035 | Production Practicum | 1
      • Additional technique as needed | 2
      • Gen. Ed. Skills course (example: QRMS) | 3-5
      • Gen. Ed. Distribution course (example: Natural Science) | 3
      • Elective | 3
  • Year Two:
    • Fall Semester:
      • DNCE 2501 | African Dance | 2
      • DNCE 3014 | Inside the Groove: Developing Rhythmic Skills | 2
      • THTR 4029 | Performance and Community Engagement | 3
      • THTR 2050 | Technical Theatre for Performance | 2
      • Gen. Ed. Distribution/Diversity course (example: Social Sciences) | 3
      • Gen. Ed. Distribution course (example: Natural Science) | 3
    • Spring Semester:
      • DNCE 3005 | Movement Awareness and Injury Prevention for the Dancer | 3
      • DNCE 3041 or DNCE 4061 | Major Technique or Major Technique | 2
      • DNCE 3033 | Choreographic Resources | 3
      • DNCE 3024 | SOUND Choices: Enhancing the Music/Dance Relationship | 2
      • Additional technique as needed | 2
      • Gen. Ed. Distribution course (example: Natural Sciences) | 3
  • Year Three:
    • Fall Semester:
      • DNCE 3041 or DNCE 4061 | Major Technique or Major Technique | 2
      • DNCE 3901 | Technique Practicum | 1-3
      • DNCE 4036 | Dance Teaching Practices: Inclusive Approaches to Instruction | 3
      • Gen. Ed. Distribution/Diversity course (example: Social Sciences/US Perspective) | 3
      • Gen. Ed. Skills course (example: Upper-division Written Communication) | 3
      • Elective | 3
    • Spring Semester:
      • DNCE 3041 or DNCE 4061 | Major Technique or Major Technique | 2
      • DNCE 3043 | Choreographic Process | 3
      • DNCE 4012 | Concert Production | 1
      • THTR 1003 or DNCE 4023 or THTR 4073 | Acting 1 or Performance Improvisation Techniques or Performing Voices of Women | 2-3
      • Additional technique as needed | 3
      • Gen. Ed. Distribution course (example: Social Sciences) | 3
  • Year Four:
    • Fall Semester:
      • DNCE 3041 or DNCE 4061 | Major Technique or Major Technique | 2
      • DNCE 4017 | Dancing Histories: Sex, Gender and Race in U.S. Concert Dance | 3
      • DNCE 4053 | Advanced Dance Composition | 3
      • Gen. Ed. Distribution course (example: Social Sciences) | 3
      • Elective | 3
    • Spring Semester:
      • DNCE 4037 or DNCE 4047 | Contemporary Concert Dance: Shifting Perspectives in Performance or Hip-Hop Dance History | 3
      • DNCE 5052 | Studio Concert | 3
      • THTR 4081 | Senior Seminar | 3
      • Additional technique as needed | 2
      • Elective | 3
• Total Credit Hours: 118-123