Program Overview

---

Dance - Master of Fine Arts (MFA)

The Dance - Master of Fine Arts (MFA) program at the University of Colorado Boulder is a three-year graduate degree that focuses on the development of the individual artistic voice in performance, choreography, teaching, research, and writing. The program is designed to provide students with a comprehensive education in dance, including technique, choreography, pedagogy, and research.

Curriculum

The primary core MFA curriculum focuses on the development of the individual artistic voice in performance, choreography, teaching, research, and writing. The presentation of new creative work is bolstered, augmented, and enriched by the study of theory, history, and many diverse artists of all dance genres and movement disciplines. The program is designed to be responsive to individual areas of interest and to ensure effective preparation for careers in academics, not-for-profit organizations, and the professional arenas.

• Students are encouraged to think outside of the box in terms of course choices, creative pursuits, and scholarly activities.
• A considerable number of the required credits consists of student-selected courses and electives, allowing for a great deal of freedom and individualized study.
• It is critical that a student work closely with their advisor in selecting courses in the dance curriculum, courses outside of the department, and creating independent studies that will support the student's goals and secondary area of emphasis.

Performance and Production

All MFA students are expected to present choreographic work each semester, either as part of course-related events or in other departmentally produced events. It is expected that students will seek not only to deepen their established artistic practices but also assiduously expand their artistic self into less familiar movement, choreographic, aesthetic, and expressive modes.

• Evaluation of artistic output will be based on articulateness, sophistication, theatrical and conceptual completeness, and on the extent to which students have deeply sought discovery, reconsideration, and analysis of their art-making methods.
• Students are urged to seek a variety of performance opportunities with fellow students, faculty, and guest artists.

Modified MFA Program for Professionals

Those students entering the program with significant professional backgrounds, including teaching, choreography, and/or performance, may be able to request a modified degree plan. For such students, an interview with the Director of Dance and the Director of Graduate Studies for Dance during the application/audition process is necessary.

• The goal of the modified program for professionals is to provide flexibility in the pursuit of individual goals and the fortification of specific educational gaps.
• In close consultation with the faculty and graduate advisor, the student will be able to propose and develop new areas of research and creative work.

Teaching Requirement

The department is committed to providing full funding for all admitted MFA students. This funding comes through appointments that include teaching assistants (TA), graduate assistants (GA), research assistants (RA), and graduate part-time instructors (GPTI).

• The percentage of these appointments varies, but does not exceed 50% (or 20 hours of work per week).
• These assignments are awarded and evaluated for one semester at a time.

Requirements

Admission Requirements

Applicants are expected to show a high level of proficiency in dance performance, pedagogy, and choreography. All applicants must submit the Teaching Application portion of the application. Funding for the MFA is contingent upon teaching within the program.

• The deadline for all applications is December 1.
• Select applicants will be invited to an initial Zoom interview in January.
• The faculty will then invite a small number of applicants for an in-person campus audition in February.

Prerequisites

• Hold a baccalaureate degree in dance or equivalent dance proficiency, and experience with a degree in another field.
• Have an undergraduate GPA of at least 2.75 and meet the Graduate School's minimum Admission Requirements.
• Demonstrate a deep commitment to the field of dance with proficiency in practice, performance, choreography, and teaching.

Program Requirements

Required Courses and Credits

The three-year program requires a minimum of 60 credit hours, at least 50 of which must be completed on campus at CU Boulder. The curriculum focuses on performance, choreography, scholarship, pedagogy, and a secondary area of specialization.

• Grades lower than a B- cannot be applied towards graduation; a 3.0 GPA is needed to graduate.
• Course List Code | Title | Credit Hours
  • THDN 6009 | Research and Teaching in Theatre, Dance and Performance Studies | 2
  • DNCE 5001 | Graduate Technique | 6 (2 credits taken 3X)
  • DNCE 5901 | Somatic Applications to Dance | 2
  • Varied Additional Technique Classes (DNCE) | 4
  • DNCE 5012 | Concert Production 1 | 1
  • DNCE 5053 | Advanced Dance Composition 1 | 3
  • DNCE 5056 | Graduate Teaching Seminar | 2
  • DNCE 5064 | Music and Dance Seminar: Collaboration | 2
  • DNCE 6073 | Choreography (taken twice with different instructors) 1 | 6 (3 credits taken 2X)
  • DNCE 6969 | The Graduate Project | 8

MFA Project and Project Paper

The culmination of graduate study is the MFA Project and Project Paper. The MFA Project is based on creative work: a choreographic/creative project usually presented in a live performance or digital format, followed by a paper and an oral defense of the project and paper.

Graduate Comprehensive Portfolio

Prior to graduation, MFA candidates submit a collection of scholarly, pedagogical, and creative work. The portfolio is intended to document and synthesize the graduate's personal practice, philosophies, choreography, and academic investigations.

Plan(s) of Study

Please contact your GPA or advisor for specific needs for a semester, before registering for any class.

Secondary Emphasis

We wholeheartedly assert that a liberal arts education cultivates a healthy balance of critical thinking, creativity, and communal excellence. In this spirit, MFA candidates choose at least one secondary area of study to give variety and dimension to their training.

Secondary Emphases Within Our Campus

Students may choose an emphasis that can be fulfilled by courses taken within the department and/or in other campus departments. Secondary emphases vary between two and five courses, depending on the choice of subject.

• Students may also choose to complete a graduate certificate as their secondary emphasis.
• The most common certificates earned by MFA students are:
  • Women & Gender Studies Certificate
  • Hip-hop Studies Certificate
  • Critical Ethnic Studies Certificate
  • Emergent Technologies and Media Arts Practices
  • Critical Theory Certificate
  • Digital Humanities Certificate
  • Arts Administration Certificate

Aerial Dance Emphasis

The aerial dance emphasis is available to students who have a serious interest in aerial dance and its application to dance training, performance, and/or teacher training.

• Students can work towards the completion of the Professional Training Program at Frequent Flyers Aerial Dance Studio (located in Boulder) while simultaneously pursuing their MFA degree.
• The Professional Training Program must be successfully completed before the MFA degree will be awarded.

Somatic Emphasis

The somatic emphasis is social justice oriented. It is intended for students with a strong devotion to intersectional practice-based research.

• Designed as a connective tissue within the MFA in Dance, the somatic emphasis fosters the artist-citizen to be accountable, embodied, and aware through dancing, dance making, performance, critical discourse, collaboration, wellness, and activism.
• Students are supported in accumulating broad experiential knowing through diverse somatic approaches.

Learning Outcomes

By the completion of the program, students will be able to:

• Demonstrate a clear and individuated artistic voice.
• Demonstrate preparation and empowerment for fulfilling their chosen career paths, both in their graduate studies and in the professional world.
• Investigate traditional and innovative approaches to movement invention, choreography, and performance.
• Demonstrate somatic awareness and fluency in dance technique, including but not limited to improvisation, jazz, African Caribbean, aerial, hip-hop, Transnational fusion, north and west African dance, ballet, and contemporary.
• Actively engage in dance research, with particular attention to discovering relationships between scholarship and creative work.
• Examine and practice pedagogical goals and strategies from aesthetic, cultural, and anatomical perspectives.
• Present choreography/creative work on a regular basis and perform in the creative work of faculty, peers, and guest artists working in a variety of aesthetic and technical styles.