Dance

Undergraduate Information

OFFICE: Music 112
TELEPHONE: 619-594-6031 / FAX: 619-594-1692
E-MAIL: music.dance@sdsu.edu

Undergraduate Information

Faculty

Interim Director: Kevin M. Delgado, Associate Professor of Music (B.M., San Diego State University; M.A., Ph.D., University of California, Los Angeles)

Adviser and Division Coordinator: Joseph W. Alter, Associate Professor of Dance (B.A., Hunter College; M.F.A., The Ohio State University)

Tenured and Tenure-Track Faculty:

Joseph W. Alter, Associate Professor of Dance (B.A., Hunter College; M.F.A., The Ohio State University)

Jessica Humphrey, Associate Professor of Dance (B.F.A., California State University, Long Beach; M.F.A., University of Utah

Chuyuh Oh, Assistant Professor of Dance (B.A., Ewha Woman’s University, Seoul, South Korea; M.A., Ewha Woman’s University, Seoul, South Korea; Ph.D., The University of Texas at Austin)

Leslie Seiters, Professor of Dance (M.F.A., The Ohio State University)

Lecturers:

Matthew Armstrong, B.A.

Tommy Chu, B.A.

Kathryn Irey

Anna Brown Massey, M.F.A.

Justin Morrison

Henry Torres Blanco

Emeritus Faculty:

Graham Hempel, M.A., 1979-2010, Associate Professor of Dance

Melissa Nunn, M.A., 1979-2010, Professor of Dance

Patricia R. Sandback, M.F.A., 1974-2010, Professor of Dance

George C. Willis, M.F.A., 1967-2001, Associate Professor of Dance

The Major

Dance serves to enhance the lives of all peoples and provides a challenging avenue of creative expression for those who wish to pursue its serious study. This program promotes dance as a communicative and expressive medium uniquely effective in the conveyance of meaning, emotion, and cultural values. Dance is a rigorous and specialized area of the performing arts, demanding a high level of physical preparation as well as a thorough understanding of aesthetics.

The Bachelor of Fine Arts in Dance provides professional preparation for dance majors in choreography, performance, scholarship, and teaching; more specifically, as choreographers and dancers with professional companies, teachers in community and recreation programs, schools and colleges, movement educators, and candidates for graduate work in dance scholarship.

The Bachelor of Arts in Dance is a liberal arts degree for those students who seek an understanding of and an intimate orientation to the discipline of dance without professional goals. This degree enables students to obtain this broad understanding.

A minor in somatic studies is available in addition to the dance minor for those students whose primary interest is in another department.

As members of the University Dance Company, students perform in faculty choreography and repertory works set by distinguished guest artists in periodic workshops and residencies. Each B.F.A. student also stages original work in a senior concert. Dance activity courses provided in the school offer experiences for the general student population in contemporary modern and ballet.

Entrance and Progression Requirements

In addition to CSU and SDSU requirements, incoming students requesting the B.F.A. program in Dance will be required to perform an audition before the faculty in order to be admitted to the program. The audition will consist of:

A technique class to include learning/repeating movement phrases, moving through space, and preparation.
Guided processes of collaborating, making, and performing.
The following qualities will be assessed:
Basic technical skills in aptitude for learning, comprehension and application of instructions, and dance.
Attentiveness, focus, presence, and quality of engagement.
Ability to articulate desire to dance in college and interest in SDSU’s dance program.

In order to continue in the B.F.A. program in dance, students must demonstrate continuing progress in all areas of skill development, choreography, musical assessment, etc., in the following ways:

Successful completion of all coursework as assessed through written examination and through continuous performance evaluation each semester.
A commitment and respect for the disciplined study of dance and participation in a supportive learning environment.
Junior Level Review: Students must successfully pass this review to continue into the junior year. Faculty will formally review coursework and meet individually with students to assess progress and quality of participation in the major.

Impacted Program

The dance major is an impacted program. To be admitted to the dance major, students must meet the following criteria:

Complete preparation for the major;
Complete a minimum of 60 transferable semester units;
Have a minimum cumulative GPA of 2.0.

To complete the major, students must fulfill the degree requirements for the major described in the catalog in effect at the time they are accepted into the premajor at SDSU (assuming continuous enrollment).

Major Academic Plans (MAPs)

Visit http://www.sdsu.edu/mymap for the recommended courses needed to fulfill your major requirements. The MAPs website was created to help students navigate the course requirements for their majors and to identify which General Education course will also fulfill a major preparation course requirement.