Dance Major

The Major

 

Four pathways highlight the research trajectories of the Dance Program. None of the pathways targets a specific physical style or cultural tradition; rather, these traditions interweave through all the pathways.

These pathways are:

  • Dancing Cultures
  • Being and Healing
  • Process, Practice, and Research
  • Social Issues and Social Action

Please refer to the Dance Program website (https://danceprogram.duke.edu/) for the current descriptions and listing of courses under each of these pathways.

 

Major Requirements: To major in dance, a student must take a minimum of twelve course credits:

  • Dance 101 (Introduction to Dance)
  • Four courses selected from one pathway
  • One course each from the other three pathways
  • Dance 487S (Capstone Seminar: Research Methods and Writing in Dance Studies and Choreographic Performance)
  • Dance 489T (Capstone: Senior Project), or Dance 499S (Capstone Seminar: Distinction Project)
  • Equivalent of two course credits from partial or full-credit movement courses.
  • Fifteen hours total of service work are required of each student. This may be completed at any time during the four-year undergraduate experience.

Selecting an Advisor: Upon declaration of the major make an appointment with the Director of Undergraduate Studies.  An advisor will be assigned to each student. More information and Advisors for Dance Majors request form.

Pathways

  • Dancing Cultures
  • Being and Healing
    • Dance 284 (Ritual, Performance, and Religion)
    • Dance 377S (Dance Science: An Evolutionary Approach)
    • Dance 390 (Special Topics)
    • Dance 575S (Somatics: Embodiment for the Twenty-First Century)
    • Dance 590 (Special Topics in Dance/Embodiment)
    • 690S Special Topics in Dance
  • Process, Practice, and Research
  • Social Issues and Social Action
    • Dance 201S (Arts Entrepreneurship)
    • Dance 207S (Performance and Social Change)
    • Dance 379S (Legal Issues for the Performing Arts)
    • Dance 390 (Special Topics)
    • Dance 309S (Dancing States of Mind: The Self, Social and Political Practice of Dance)
    • Dance 590 (Special Topics in Dance/Embodiment)
    • 690S Special Topics in Dance

Courses originating outside of the Dance Program not listed here may be considered as satisfying pathways requirements at the discretion of the director of undergraduate studies and the student’s major advisor. No more than two courses originating outside of the Dance Program may count toward the pathways requirements.