Welcome
Hello!
Here is some information about the Dance Department at Connecticut College.
We have seven full time faculty in Dance, and several adjunct faculty. We foster a community in our department, one of inclusion, thoughtful art making, and radical scholarship. We cultivate each student’s individual path through the major, creating opportunities for citizenship and artistic growth.
We are a department that emphasizes learning through rigorous experimentation, exposure to current theory and practice in the greater world of dance, and at the same time a reverence for our dance-making ancestors. Our department has a rich diversity of technique instruction including: Modern, Hip Hop, West African, Afro-Caribbean, Ballet, Tap and Improvisation. We have four levels of choreography, including a Capstone project which is developed in a Senior Seminar format. In addition, we have courses in history, writing, anatomy, theories of embodiment, social justice, technology/media, hip hop culture, music, and more.
David Dorfman Dance is our company in residence, offering classes and open rehearsals as well as free tuition for its annual summer intensive held at Conn. We have at least five performance opportunities per year, in works by students, faculty and guest artists. Our students have recently performed in work by Merce Cunningham, Ohad Naharin, alumna Molly Lieber, Thomas DeFranz, Laura Dean, Rennie Harris, Doug Varone, Shakia Johnson, Rashaun Mitchell + Silas Reiner, Jennifer Archibald and Bebe Miller.
Our curriculum fits beautifully into the liberal arts environment. Most dance students double major or join an Interdisciplinary Center, study abroad, and are active on campus in student organizations. In 2019 and 2023, Professor Shani Collins took a group of students to study and perform in Ghana.
Check out the January 2020 Issue of Dance Magazine with alumni Raja Feather Kelly on the cover.
Helen Hope Rolfe, a writer for Dance Spirit Magazine, and a Conn alum, recently interviewed Raja for an article in the magazine: how arts organizations can fundraise online in the age of COVID-19.
Senior dance major Catja Christensen was an intern at Pointe this summer and wrote an article on the ballet from Kyiv: Ukraine’s Kyiv City Ballet Prepares for Its First U.S. Tour, along with a number of other articles.
And also this interview with alumni Skyler Volpe, headed to Broadway in Sing Street.
We know that you will be among the next dancer/dance maker who will challenge current ideas of what dance can be. We invite you to come and discover yourself here in Dance at Connecticut College.