Message from Bonnie Brooks, Chairperson

Pursuing a degree in dance offers college students the opportunity to fully commit their bodies, minds, and imaginations to learning and accomplishment in one of the world’s oldest forms of physical, spiritual, social, and artistic expression. The mission of the Dance Center of Columbia College Chicago is to provide our students with a superior contemporary dance education in the context of higher learning. We fulfill this mission through the work of a qualified, professional faculty, a comprehensive curriculum that offers both Bachelor of Arts and Bachelor of Fine Arts degrees, world-class guest artists, and a nationally recognized dance-presenting season.

The Dance Center’s curriculum demands active engagement from our students – from the moment they begin their first class through to their graduation day. Dancing is a daily practice. Our students advance through multiple skill levels of dance technique via a rigorous training process that includes classes in both contemporary (modern) dance and ballet. Additional courses in contact improvisation, jazz, hip hop, and world dance forms are offered to round out students’ exposure to all forms of dance. As they progress through our technique requirements, students are also learning about and practicing dance improvisation and composition, music and rhythmic analysis, dance history and theory, body sciences, cultural studies, and concert dance production. In the B.A., four tracks of study are available: choreography, performance, dance studies, and teaching. Our B.F.A. students focus on choreography or teaching. Each degree track culminates in capstone course work that deepens their knowledge and practices in their area of concentration. Throughout their matriculation students enjoy numerous opportunities to perform and to create and present their own dances in our state-of-the-art dance theater. Concerts featuring student choreography and performances highlight each semester.

The Dance Center’s faculty is composed of accomplished professional artist/teachers who balance their roles as educators with active involvement in artistic, scholarly, and professional endeavors in the dance field. Faculty members continue to achieve distinction and honors as dance performers, choreographers, teachers, artistic directors, writers, composers, and more. Through their continued connection to the real world practice of their respective arts, the faculty brings currency and a rich range of practical experience to our students. See our faculty bios on our Web site at www.colum.edu/dancecenter for more information.

The Dance Center’s professional dance presenting season features some of the finest contemporary dance companies in the world. Our students enjoy numerous opportunities to see and study with these artists. Guest companies have one to three week engagements at the Dance Center, involving themselves in teaching and other residency activities that give students direct exposure to the artistry and experience of outstanding professionals. Recent presentations have included international companies such as the England’s Richard Alston Dance Company, Cloud Gate Dance Theater of Taiwan, Senegalese-based Jant Bi, and France’s Lyon Opera Ballet, as well as American companies such as Joe Goode Performance Group, Trisha Brown Company, Ron K. Brown/Evidence, Merce Cunningham Dance Company, Susan Marshall Company, and Urban Bush Women. For information about our current season, visit our Web site at www.colum.edu/dancecenter.

Through rich engagement with all these facets of our program, we prepare students for varied career paths within or beyond the dance field. Graduates of our program have a solid record of continuing activity and success in dance and related fields. Dance Department alumni have gone on to dance in major New York dance companies; to teach dance within a full range of institutions from private studios to universities; to form their own dance companies and produce their own work; to enter dance and performing arts management careers; to pursue advanced degrees in choreography, dance education, and dance therapy; and to further their qualifications with certifications in K-12 teaching and somatic practices such as pilates, massage therapy, and more.

The Dance Center, a four-story art deco building, is located at the southern end of Columbia’s urban campus. It is a superb facility, with six dance studios; a state-of-the-art 272 seat theater; a “smart” classroom which offers large-screen video viewing and internet access; a small, hands-on audio/media lab; a student lounge; and locker rooms with showers.

A successful education in dance is a rigorous undertaking requiring strength and flexibility of body, mind, and imagination. Are you ready? If so, consider joining us at The Dance Center of Columbia College Chicago. You will be challenged and you will grow.

Bonnie Brooks
Chairperson, Dance

More Information about this Department

The Dance Department offers three programs designed to suit varied levels of student interest and ability in the art of dance. Bachelor of Fine Arts and Bachelor of Arts programs are designed to provide the skills and knowledge necessary for lifelong engagement in the field, while the minor in dance offers a limited course of study as an adjunct to a major in another field.

Prospective students are encouraged to carefully consider their decision to enroll as a Dance major. Pre-professional training in dance is highly challenging. Columbia’s BFA and BA programs are based on comprehensive requirements and high expectations. Access to some required courses is by audition, and only those students who demonstrate sufficient progress and skill will move successfully through the program.

The curriculum is anchored in three primary areas of study: physical training in dance techniques; artistic practice in improvisation, choreography, and performance; and intellectual examination of historical, cultural, and theoretical contexts for dance. A Dance major’s typical week might include 12 hours in dance technique courses, three hours in other movement creation and exploration courses, three hours in an academic dance course, and six hours in liberal education courses. In addition to classroom hours, the student might devote another 12 or more hours to study and rehearsal outside of class. Whether pursuing a Bachelor of Arts or Bachelor of Fine Arts, students will be fully engaged and richly challenged physically, creatively, and intellectually. Upon completion of the program students will:

• Be skilled contemporary dancers with substantial physical performance abilities.
• Be able to actively engage in dance making through choreography, improvisation, and performance.
• Be knowledgeable concerning historical, cultural, scientific, and theoretical information and perspectives on dance.
• Be knowledgeable concerning dance pedagogical practices and functional body mechanics.
• Be able to describe, analyze, and interpret dance works.

These broad objectives apply to all Columbia’s Dance students; however, requirements and expectations regarding degree of skill attained, variety of experiences, and depth and breadth of knowledge progress from basic levels in the minor to pre-professional expectations of the BFA.

The Dance Department also offers a post baccalaureate certificate of major and a minor in Dance.