About Us

Duke Dance Program Climate Statement

The Duke Dance Program values mutual respect, support, and inclusivity. Cultural plurality is reflected within our faculty and our curriculum created for a diverse student body and their creative and academic interests. Here, all identities and abilities are welcome and embraced as we engage in rigorous practice and discourse. These values are reflected in our programming, events, studio work, seminar courses, and the distribution of resources. As we engage with dance at Duke and beyond, we acknowledge our ongoing commitments to cultivating a culture of belonging.

 

About the Duke Dance Program

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.

The Duke Dance Program will engage you in the profound potential for dance as embodied knowledge. We welcome all students, regardless of the extent of their experience in dance. The curriculum provides opportunities to encounter dance traditions and movement experimentation as processes for discovery, communication, inquiry and discourse. Students already deeply engaged in specific dance forms can explore and further enhance their physical, performance and creative capacities. Students will experience dance as a mode for personal development and leadership, and as a transformative force for social action. As the landscape of dance continues to evolve, Duke Dance students will gain the knowledge and skills to impact the nature and function of dance in contemporary society and reimagine the future of performance. They will move into action, agency, and sustainability with tools that can transform relationships locally and globally. If you are passionate to turn the world into magnificence and want to shake it into awareness, you have arrived. Join us.