Dance Minor

Fall Quarter 2017 Dance Minor Information Meeting: 

Thursday, November 9th @ 11:00a in Building 60, Room 6

Thank you for your interest in the Dance Program at Cal Poly.  The Theatre and Dance Department offers a minor in dance. Students do not have to audition to apply for the dance minor. The minor can be added to the degree at anytime during the college career by signing up with a faculty advisor. 

Modern, Ballet and Jazz are emphasized in the minor, we also offer Choreography, Teaching Methods, Dance Appreciation and other techniques. We have an Advanced Ballet Repertory class and a Contemporary Repertory class in the Fall which culminates in a performance piece for our winter concert – Ballet Rep is a pointe class. Currently we do not offer ballet partnering - most partnering done here is modern. We do two main stage productions a year, and there are many other performance opportunities in the community. We are constantly pursuing the Dance Major, but as of yet, the design of the university and its budget does not allow it. 

It is important to realize that we have a very small but dynamic, inclusive and enthusiastic dance program that focuses on the creative and artistic development of the whole individual. We are not a conservatory program offering advanced technique study. Dance Minors, Dance Company, and class members are diverse students with majors like Engineering, Architecture, Liberal Arts, Kinesiology, Education, Business and Psychology etc. They find interesting connections between dance and their regular life studies and academe. Many levels of dance students study here, and many are just beginning their journey. Our strengths lie in offering creative and artistic study and opening up other aspects of the dance world to dancers who are studio trained. We value this aspect of our program. Some of our graduates have gone on in dance and are accepted into and are pursuing MFA's in dance with the intent to teach in universities and start their own local dance companies. 

Please check the Dance minor curriculum for the minor course requirements. Besides our studio classes, students are required to take a lecture class:

Dance Appreciation (Danc 221) counts towards General Education requirements (in Area C). If a student is accepted into the Orchesis Dance company (by audition only), all dance minor elective requirements are automatically fulfilled by the two production courses the dancer must take.   A student does not, however, have to be a member of the company to fulfill the minor, as there are other courses available to count towards the elective unit requirements.

That should answer most questions!  If you should have any further questions, please contact Diana Stanton.