Dance major

Dance: courses, careers, and where to study

Dance is the study and practice of moving the body as an expressive art form, suited to students who want to perform, choreograph, or teach across styles like ballet, modern, and jazz.

A Dance major trains students to communicate ideas and emotion through trained, intentional movement while studying dance as both an art and a cultural practice. Students spend most of their time in the studio building technique across styles such as ballet, modern, jazz, and various folk and cultural forms, while also creating original work through choreography. Beyond the physical training, coursework covers dance history and criticism, kinesiology and injury prevention, music for dancers, and methods of recording movement on paper, including Laban notation. Many programs also teach the practical craft behind staged work, from lighting and stagecraft to rehearsal direction and production planning.

The credential is usually a bachelor's degree, offered either as a fine-arts degree weighted toward studio performance or as a more liberal-arts degree that blends dance with academic study; some students later pursue a master's for teaching at the college level. Programs are built around hands-on studio courses, faculty-directed rehearsals, and a culminating capstone such as a choreographed concert, a senior showcase, or a fully staged performance. Unlike performing-arts fields centered on acting or instrumental music, Dance is grounded specifically in the moving body as its medium and instrument. Graduates work as company members and freelance performers, choreographers, rehearsal directors, studio teachers, and movement coaches in settings such as professional companies, schools and conservatories, community studios, theaters, and arts organizations; teaching in public elementary and secondary schools generally requires a state teaching credential, which should be verified locally.

In federal data for the closely related occupation of choreographers, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reports a 2024 median wage of $55,600 and projects employment to grow about 6.1% from 2024 to 2034; a high school diploma or equivalent is the typical entry-level education for that occupation. National figures are occupation-wide medians across all experience levels, not starting wages or graduate outcomes.