Learn through Dance
Study dance every semester, participate in public dance performances and broaden your liberal arts degree and career opportunities through our multifaceted dance programs.
We offer four dance programs that can be taken independently or combined.
- Dance Minor
- Pre-dance Therapy and Dance Wellness Certificate
- Dance Leadership and Women’s and Gender Studies Certificate
- Dance Pedagogy and Research Certificate
What You Will Do
As a student in the dance programs, you'll choose the courses that work best for your areas of interest. The curriculum gives you opportunities to practice forms of modern, jazz, ballroom, tap, and ballet. You'll also explore choreography, dance production, pedagogy, and somatics.
Student performance opportunities include auditioning for and performing with the IUP Dance Theater Company or performing in dance class performances, musicals, workshops, and more. You can also have works you choreographed incorporated into IUP Dance Theater performances and/or dance class projects.
What You Can Learn
- How to link dance to your primary studies
- How to express yourself in space and time
- How to be part of an ensemble
- Skills for teaching dance with evidence-based pedagogical practices
- How to use dance around themes or to illustrate points or truths
- Dancing in ways that are creative and that allow you to express yourself
- How dance is the primal physical language of the spirit
- How awareness of body-mind-spirit connections can be enhanced through dance
- How to analyze and evaluate women’s and gender roles in dance
- Insight into business administration and underrepresented leadership roles in dance
- Research skills
Opportunities to Dance
Through an audition process, students in the Dance Minor and certificate programs can have a wide variety of performance and technical opportunities. Some of these include IUP Dance Theater Company, musicals, operas, outreach programs, student works, and workshops with professional guest artists. Students also dance as part of the curriculum in their classes and sometimes perform in group-project presentations.
Imagine Your Future
The Dance Minor and certificates can be valuable credentials for students interested in including dance in their career plans.
Students can use what they learn in the dance programs to teach dance, operate a dance studio, and incorporate dance into wellness or community recreation programs.
They can also combine dance with other areas, such as education. One alumna who is a teacher approached her school and was able to add dance instruction into physical education at the school.
Through the certificates, students can acquire a unique leadership or teaching credential to enhance their marketability and career options.
The Dance Minor and dance certificate programs can prepare students for a variety of careers or other pursuits in dance, for example:
- Teaching (pedagogy)
- Dance therapy and wellness
- Performance
- Arts administration
- Postgraduate studies
- Choreography
- Entrepreneurship
Projected to Grow
Overall employment for dancers and choreographers is , much faster than the average for all occupations in the US, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics.
According to this projection, about 2,700 openings for dancers and choreographers are projected each year, on average, over the decade. Many of those openings are expected to result from the need to replace workers who transfer to different jobs or who exit the workforce.
Percentage change in employment projected for 2021 to 2031:
Choreographers
Dancers and choreographers
Dancers
Entertainers and performers, sports and related workers
Classes and Requirements
A placement audition is held to identify student interests and competencies, followed by a personal interview with the professor of the dance programs. This is to help advise students on their options, including the following:
- The Dance Minor
- Pre-dance Therapy and Dance Wellness Certificate
- Dance Leadership and Women’s and Gender Studies Certificate
- Dance Pedagogy and Research Certificate
Depending on your specific goals, you can choose to do the Dance Minor, one certificate program, or a combination of some or all of the programs. You can also customize and personalize your program of study through practicum credits in a focused area.
Given the variety of the content and the combination of technique courses and theory courses, these programs offer a unique opportunity and added value to any major.
See the academic catalog listings below for details.
Dance Minor
The Dance Minor provides a foundation for those interested in teaching dance, working in administration with a dance company, managing a private dance studio, working with theatre productions, or desiring a broad-based education within the dance discipline. It is an 18-credit program, with six required and 12 advised elective credits, making it possible to adjust the courses to your goals and interests with guidance from your advisor. The Dance Minor is based on the National Standards for Arts Education dance requirements.
Full Academic Catalog Listing
The course catalog is the official reference for all our degree and course offerings. Check it out for a full listing of the classes available and requirements for this degree.
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Dance Pedagogy and Research Certificate
The 15-credit certificate in Dance Pedagogy and Research is an added credential in the areas of pedagogy and research for Dance majors, minors, and returning professionals. Students will be introduced to dance pedagogy, dance production, anatomical organization of the human body, and literature research methods through selected courses in the areas of dance, health and human services, and library research.
Full Academic Catalog Listing
The course catalog is the official reference for all our degree and course offerings. Check it out for a full listing of the classes available and requirements for this degree.
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Pre-Dance Therapy and Dance Wellness Certificate
The Pre-Dance Therapy and Dance Wellness certificate includes courses in dance and somatics, human function and structure, and general psychology. The certificate is an added credential for Dance majors and minors, as well as returning professionals, preparing them for a post-baccalaureate degree in dance therapy and wellness and increasing their opportunities in the job market. Students will explore dance as an art form while using a deeper knowledge of the human body and mind to utilize dance in therapy and healing.
Full Academic Catalog Listing
The course catalog is the official reference for all our degree and course offerings. Check it out for a full listing of the classes available and requirements for this degree.
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Dance Leadership and Women’s and Gender Studies Certificate
The 16-credit certificate in Dance Leadership and Women’s and Gender Studies enhances your understanding of women’s roles and gender roles throughout history and within the job market for performers, artists, and administrators. The certificate combines selected courses from the Dance Program, the Women’s and Gender Studies Program, and the Eberly College of Business and Information Technology to create a unique credential for Dance majors and minors, Women’s and Gender Studies majors, Business majors, and those with an interest in under-represented leadership roles.
Full Academic Catalog Listing
The course catalog is the official reference for all our degree and course offerings. Check it out for a full listing of the classes available and requirements for this degree.
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Student Involvement: Clubs, Practicum
IUP Dance Theater, a faculty-led, preprofessional dance company, gives two to three performances over two semesters and incorporates outreach programs and guest artists.
Productions
You can audition for and perform in faculty-led productions for Theater-by-the-Grove, which performs main-stage productions, and IUP Dance Theater Company, a faculty-led preprofessional dance company. Public performance opportunities include dance company shows, musicals, operas, student-choreographed works, and occasional collaborations with guest artists.
The department is a fully accredited institutional member of the National Association of Schools of Theatre (NAST).
Guest Artists, Summer Opportunities, and Study Abroad in Dance
Students sometimes have the chance to dance with professionals working in the field who come to IUP as guest artists. When indoor performances were not possible due to the pandemic, IUP's dance program brought guest artists to campus who taught students choreography and did a workshop on improvisation. The guest artists and students then performed a combination of choreographed and improvised dances in outdoor spaces on campus.
Interested students can also explore summer study opportunities, including national and international programs such as those at the Alexander Technique Centre in Galway, Ireland; the Himalayan Institute in ºÚÁϳԹÏÍø; and the Skyros Centre in Greece
Opportunities can develop to attend national and international studies, conferences, and festivals, such as the World Dance Alliance Americas, Corps de Ballet, and Women in Dance Leadership.
Other national and international immersion opportunities combined with service-based projects include the following:
- Study abroad
- Conferences and festivals
- Personal wellness programs