The Duke University Dance Program focuses on dance as an integral part of the human experience and a medium for rigorous intellectual creativity. Our program prepares exceptionally aware, creative and socially responsible individuals. Our aim is to engage students in the profound potential for dance as embodied knowledge in the service of society. The Dance Program curriculum is designed to encourage the exploration of dance from interdisciplinary perspectives: historical, cultural, aesthetic, literary, technological, musical, scientific and creative.
Offering a major and minor, our provides unique opportunities to encounter global dance traditions and movement experimentation for discovery, inquiry and discourse. The curriculum is designed to suit the interests of students with varied levels of experience in dance, encouraging them in multi- and inter-disciplinary engagements.
Continuation of Dance 130. Dances from selected African ethnic groups providing increasingly complex movement sequences and rhythmic structures. Emphasis on greater technical proficiency, clarity of… read more about African Dance Technique II »
Lecture and dance laboratory exploring three West African traditional dance forms and their relationship to religious and social life in Africa and the Diaspora. Continuity and transformation of… read more about West African Rootholds in Dance »
The study of choreography and performance through participation in the mounting of a dance work from inception through rehearsal to performance. Separate enrollment in dance technique is encouraged.… read more about Performance: African »
The Master of Fine Arts in Dance: Embodied Interdisciplinary Praxis is a 2-year, full-time terminal degree in Dance. The program endorses dance as a politically, socially and spiritually transformative force in society. The MFA encourages practice-based, interdisciplinary research that has the potential to result in tangible contributions to society at large.
Dance Program
