Dance courses are offered within the theatre arts curriculum and share with the rest of the program the department’s philosophy that courses in theory and history should be integrated with performance. The department’s humanistic orientation emphasizes dance’s relation to theatre and the fine arts as well as its fundamental connection to the broad liberal arts curriculum, including—among others—the disciplines of history, religion, literature, physiology, and anthropology. The department’s objective is dance literacy, producing intelligent dancers and sensitive viewers. The dance program aims at kinesthetic, cognitive, and creative understanding and the development of skills, keen perception, imaginative problem solving, concentration, and respect for craft important to original work in all fields.

THE MAJOR

Students can elect to major in theatre arts with a concentration in dance. The dance track offers intensive study of core dance techniques, intellectual and aesthetic understanding of dance, and production opportunities. The major emphasizes courses in modern, jazz, and ballet technique, choreography, and dance history.

Dance faculty and staff are committed to educating the whole person, to developing not only a dance practitioner possessing artistic capabilities and understanding, but a well-rounded human being. Therefore, departmental requirements allow each student to bring together courses in supporting fields in a manner that best suits each individual's needs and desires. Many dance track majors have majors or minors in other fields, such as anthropology, art, history, pre-medicine, psychology, and women's studies.

PERFORMANCE OPPORTUNITIES

PROFESSIONAL AND CAREER EXPLORATION

Chelonia Dance Company, Beloit College's resident dance group, performs their annual dance concert each spring. Dances are presented from faculty and student choreography as well as guest artist works. Three of the pieces are chosen to be presented at the American College Dance Festival Association (ACDFA) regional festivals annually in the spring.

Students with creative ideas for special performances, collaborations, and unique venues are encouraged to pursue their visions. Students regularly produce their own concerts, put together outdoor performances, collaborate with art and music students, and perform in areas throughout the campus. These performances vary from elaborately choreographed projects to collaborations with music students and late night shows in the C-Haus. Dancers have also been featured in theatre productions such as Brigadoon, The Steamie, Love of the Nightingale, and Lysistrata.

Beloit dancers regularly pursue dance training off campus. Each spring a group of Beloit dancers attends the American College Dance Festival to take classes and be adjudicated by dance professionals. Many Beloit dancers go to summer programs such as the American Dance Festival in Durham, NC, or do summer study in New York. Some of our dancers have earned scholarships for summer study and prestigious internships at these programs. Past and present dance students are actively involved in regional dance companies.

The program prepares students for continued study of dance and related activities such as graduate school, professional training, teaching, and appreciation. Recent alumni have gone on to graduate school at Arizona State University, University of Iowa, and the University of Illinois. Other alumni teach dance in Chicago, Madison, and Janesville. Still others are dancing professionally in Chicago, Seattle, San Francisco, and Tempe. One writes dance criticism for a Wisconsin newspaper.