Dance Programs

The Dance Program at SJSU offers two Bachelors degrees and a minor. The BA in Dance is for students who want to explore training in dance while they develop skills in critical dance studies. The BFA in Dance focuses on technical mastery and performance skills. Both require an audition as part of the application process. The Dance minor is for students from all majors who want to continue to explore the joy of dance and movement. Please open the drop-down menus below for additional information.

• Bachelor of Arts in Dance

  • Dance, BA Graduation Requirements

    Auditions are required to place students in the appropriate levels.

    The Bachelor of Arts in Dance encourages young artists to explore their talents through comprehensive study of dance technique, choreography, and performance.  BA candidates also pursue dance studies in such areas as history, dance cultures, pedagogy, stage production and kinesiology, where students gain the intellectual foundation to understand the body from the perspective of history, culture, and science. Dancers are also invited to choose either contemporary dance or tap/hip hop/jazz as their technical concentration. Through the support of the department’s professionally active and diverse faculty, students are encouraged to participate in performance opportunities to refine their unique talents as creative makers, doers, and thinkers.

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    BA Learning Objectives

    Dance Studies

    PLO 1 Identify and work conceptually with the elements of dance.

    PLO 2 Understand the choreographic processes, aesthetic properties of style, and the ways these shape are shaped by artistic and cultural ideas and contexts.

    PLO 3 An acquaintance with a wide selection of dance repertory, the principal eras, genres, and cultural sources.

    PLO 4 Develop and defend critical evaluations.

    PLO 5 Fundamental knowledge of the body and of kinesiology as applicable to work in dance.

     

    Performance

    PLO 6 Perform consistent with the goals and objectives of the specific liberal arts degree program being followed, and appropriate to the individuals’ needs and interests.

    PLO 7 An understanding of procedures for realizing a variety of dance styles.

    PLO 8 Knowledge and/or skills in one or more areas of dance beyond basic course work and performance appropriate to the individuals’ needs and interests, and consistent with the goals and objectives of the specific liberal arts degree program being followed.

• Bachelor of Fine Arts in Dance

  • Dance, BFA Graduation Requirements

    Auditions are required for admission.

    The Bachelor of Fine Arts in Dance offers a rigorous immersion in the performing art with the goal of providing professional training to young dancers as movers, makers, technicians and thinkers as they evolve as whole artists. At the heart of the curriculum are daily courses in technique, which includes contemporary dance, ballet, hip hop, tap, jazz and West African; rigorous bi-weekly choreographic application of ideas of space, time and form; and near-daily rehearsal in the University Dance Theater (UDT). Through the support of the department’s professionally active and diverse faculty, UDT functions as a laboratory where dancers wrestle with new movement idioms or choreographic methods, and are given the chance to push their dancing to new heights. At the same time, the program’s academic coursework in history, dance cultures, pedagogy, and kinesiology provide students an intellectual foundation to understand the body as historical, cultural, and material.

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    BFA Learning Objectives

    Technical Mastery

    PLO 1 Highest level of technical skill in at least one area of performance.

    PLO 2 Achieve the highest possible level of conceptual understanding of the medium and its expressive possibilities.

    PLO 3 Technical proficiency standards.

    PLO 4 Have a fundamental knowledge of the body and kinesiology.

    PLO 5 Develop basic knowledge and skills in dance pedagogy.

     

    The Ability to Produce Work

    PLO 6 Develop basic knowledge and skills in choreography and have opportunities to develop their choreographic potential in studies that include traditional and/or experimental approaches.

    PLO 7 Demonstrate their competence by developing a body of work for evaluation in the major area of study.

     

    The Ability to Solve Professional Problems Independently

    PLO 8 Be able to place dance in historical, cultural, and stylistic contexts.

    PLO 9 Develop an understanding of the common elements and vocabulary and the interaction of these elements and to be able to employ this knowledge in analysis of dance.

    PLO 10 Form and defend analysis and critiques of dance and communicate dance ideas, concepts, and requirements to professionals and laypersons related to practice of the major field.

     

    A Coherent Set of Artistic/Intellectual Goals

    PLO 11 Learn to analyze dance perceptively and to evaluate.

    PLO 12 Form and defend individual critiques.

• Dance Minor

  • Dance Minor Graduation Requirements

    The Dance Minor is designed to expose students to a range of movement genres, the basics of stagecraft, and a glimpse into dance’s socio-cultural significance. Frequently chosen in tandem with a major in Theatre Arts, and valuable to other degree programs like Film, Performance Studies, and Kinesiology, the Dance Minor provides students a creative outlet that refines body and mind and can deepen understanding of bodies moving through time and space.

How to Apply to the Dance Program

Applying as a potential dance major is a four-step process:

1. Apply to SJSU via CalState Apply before November 30 of the following fall semester for undergraduate students.
2. After you're accepted to SJSU, reply to the email you'll receive from the School in late December/early January about auditions
3. Audition for the School — In person auditions February 14, 2025
4. After you receive your audition results, go to your @SJSU address and select "Intent to Enroll"

For further information, contact the Recruitment Office at filmandtheatre@sjsu.edu or refer to the FAQs page.

Dance Open House

The Dance program offers interested high school and junior college students a look at a day in the life of an SJSU Dance major. Students are offered a chance to sit in on dance master classes, tour the campus, and see performances by SJSU Companies.

The Dance Open House is an all day event that is scheduled each year.

For more information about this year's event and to reserve your space, please call (408) 924-5041 or e-mail dance@sjsu.edu.

Dance Scholarships

• Virginia Ann Dance Scholarships

  • A select number of incoming students—freshmen and transfers—may be awarded up to full tuition scholarships, lasting from 2-4 years. All dance majors are eligible.

• Legacy Scholarship Award

  • Awarded to an incoming freshman or transfer student, this award ranges between $200 and $1200. It is awarded for the fall semester and is renewable for spring.