Welcome to Dance at Denison!
We are genuinely glad you have found us and we welcome the opportunity to further your interest in our unique program.
Dance is not ordinarily taught in high schools. If you have pursued dance previous to college, it was most likely in private studios. It is equally likely you have only been exposed to the art of dancing and not to the interrogation of dance practices themselves. Consequently, we know you are a special student in that you are following an interest not readily identified as an academic course of study nor easily regarded in academic environments. At Denison, we encourage you to approach the place of dance as a creative forum, a cultural event, a somatic science, and an analytical methodology.
Your college search has no doubt revealed the rarity of finding an independent dance department in a small liberal arts college with the academic strengths Denison boasts. Having recently celebrated our 36th year as an independent major, our department is one of the oldest majors in any private liberal arts institution. Your curiosity and our longevity is a powerful combination for achieving great things in student and faculty collaboration.
The development of creative artists, inquisitive scholars and autonomous thinkers through movement practice and dance studies is the focus and strength of our department. Here you will join a small group of passionate and dedicated students who combine dance with interests in English Literature, Economics, Psychology or Communication, for example. You will have the opportunity to interact personally with gifted faculty members and talented and nationally visible guest artists, perform consistently throughout your college career, experience leadership and responsibility, shape the direction of the department's guest artist roster and activities, and create community and networks among your peers and alum.
As a dance major, you will be encouraged to discover your individual talents and interests and to expand these through advanced, independent study of dance, manifested in a Senior Research project. We have designed our major to cross multiple dance disciplines and to provide a solid and broad base of intellectual and experiential expertise in dance.
Browse through our website for information about our faculty, our students, our facilities, our guest artists, and our curriculum. The tab “Visit Us” is a specially designed for you to find out more about dance at Denison. Please contact us to request a Prospective Student Manual, to ask a question or to arrange a visit.
We invite you to visit us and encourage you take a class, meet your fellow classmates and upper class-persons, make your interests known, and plan on taking advantage of all a small college has to offer its dance students! You will find a rewarding, rich and useful experience in dance at Denison!
Sandra Mathern-Smith, Professor and Chair