Dance

Associate Professor John Pennington, program coordinator

Professor Shay²
Associate Professor Pennington
Mellon Chau Postdoctoral Fellow Gandhi
Lecturers Cano, DePontee, Gadlin, Jolley, Koenig, Miller, Pizarro,Wenten
Ashanti Lamar Smalls, academic coordinator

Dance is an interdisciplinary art form that involves elements of theatre, music, design and the visual arts in a variety of cultural contexts. Instruction is available to students who wish to study dance as one of the liberal arts, as well as to those who aspire to professional careers in dance performance or related fields. The Dance Program challenges students to develop concentration skills, observational and analytical abilities and capacities for working with broad aesthetic concepts and fine details while developing their creative instincts. Solid foundations in modern, ballet, composition and repertory are designed to build strong technique and a sense of artistic expression, while exposure to non-Western dance forms encourages students to better understand other cultures through their performance traditions.

Within the Dance Major, there are two areas of emphasis: Performance Studies and Movement Studies. The performance emphasis, which requires technique study at the advanced level, culminates in a senior choreography/performance project, while the movement studies emphasis culminates in a senior project/written thesis that may or may not involve performance. Although encouraged to take technique throughout their four years, movement studies concentrators are not required to perform at the advanced level of technique and are encouraged to combine their work in dance with other disciplines.

The department also offers a minor in dance.

• Dance Major
    
• Dance Minor
    
• Dance Courses
    

Read more about our learning objectives:
www.pomona.edu/administration/academic-dean/learning-objectives