Welcome

 

                                                                                    Music By MICHAEL WALL

 

Coordinators Letter,

        

       

   

          The Dance Program at Sam Houston State University offers a challenging performance-oriented curriculum with a wide scope to allow students to develop the skills and interests that lead to a variety of careers in dance. Graduates of the program go on to perform, teach, choreograph, and direct dance companies and schools. Six full time faculty and four part time faculty bring the expertise of their professional performing careers and choreographic portfolios to guide the next generation of dance artists. We encourage students’ growth artistically, intellectually, emotionally, as well as physically, giving students individual attention and mentorship. The program provides intensive study in modern, ballet, and jazz techniques; multiple performance opportunities each semester; exciting guest artists, teachers, and choreographers; opportunities for choreographic exploration, including investigation of video and computer editing in the creative process; as well as a solid academic grounding in coursework ranging from dance history, to criticism and analysis, Laban Movement Analysis, pedagogy for dance, and opportunities to study and practice technical aspects of theater.

          The Dance Program also offers the Master of Fine Arts, a 60 hour terminal degree. Like the undergraduate degree, the MFA is typically a performance and choreography oriented program geared towards preparing dancers for careers in higher education. Within the curriculum, students are encouraged to define areas of personal interest and develop an extensive thesis project. Qualified MFA candidates receive teaching assistantships. Our MFA graduates are employed teaching in colleges and universities throughout Texas and the United States. Generally, between 6-10 MFA candidates are enrolled for the 3 year program      Admission to the dance program is selective at both the undergraduate and graduate levels, in order to maintain an optimal ratio of students to faculty. 80-100 SHSU students major in dance. Auditions are scheduled once per semester.    

         On behalf of the dance faculty, I invite you to peruse the information provided on this site, and hope that you are inspired by what you see, including the beautiful new Performing Arts Center that will be our new home in Fall of 2010! We encourage you to contact us by email or phone, visit the dance program, and come to our performances to see for yourself the superb quality of dance here at SHSU. 

 

                                                                       Jennifer Pontius

                                                                       Dance Program Coordinator

 

 

                               

 

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