Why Study BA Dance?
If you love dance and you want to explore interdisciplinary studies of the art form in dialogue with concert dance, or if you are looking to pursue a second major or a minor to enhance your dance training, then this versatile degree track is for you.
Why Study BA Dance at MMC?
Located in Manhattan, the heart of New York City, MMC’s BA Dance major draws upon the highest standards of the profession, is versatile, and prepares you for various careers in dance. Your personal growth, on stage and off, is at the heart of our mission.
Unlike other dance programs, MMC’s BA Dance major encourages you to pursue a minor or a double major in other areas of the College’s curriculum, providing you with additional skills and knowledge, expanding opportunities for personal growth. You will be prepared to become a citizen of the world and a true advocate for the arts. Our interest is in you as a whole person, an artist who balances a trained body with an active, capable mind.
You can audition for the MMC Dance Company, study abroad or apply for one of countless internships. In your senior year, you will be assisted in resume preparation, cover letters, and photos to land interviews and auditions. Our priority is to prepare you for life after graduation.
Our faculty consists of some of the finest professors and dance professionals in New York City. Under their guidance, you’ll develop the discipline, self-confidence, and self-motivation valuable in any field, but essential to dance.
Studying dance at MMC gives you the foundation to combine discipline with artistry and creativity — just what you’ll need for a seamless transition to the professional dance world.
What You Will Learn
- From diverse technical and experiential practices, you will engage with and develop substantial kinesthetic and performance skills.
- Through kinesthetic, written, and/or verbal work, you will demonstrate a critical engagement with the histories, theoretical frameworks, and cultural contexts of dance.
- Through dancing, reading, and writing across the curriculum, you will develop a thorough understanding of selected theoretical debates and issues that are pertinent to the study of dance. This knowledge will provide you with creative, compositional, and performance strategies for the production, analysis, and documentation of dance
- You are encouraged to develop aesthetic awareness that illuminates multicultural, intersectional, and artistic innovations, and also examines stylistic traditions, historical and cultural perspectives within a global context.
Body, Science, and Motion
Combine dance with a scientific foundation and explore the burgeoning field of dance medicine. Internships with noted practitioners and medical institutions in Manhattan provide our candidates with cutting-edge experience and introduce opportunities in the field.
Dance and Media
Dance moves beyond performers on a stage. In the Dance and Media concentration, learn to create audio and visual media for use in live, recorded, and web-based dance productions, as well as document and present images related to the body.
Dance Studies
Explore a broad perspective of dance that addresses social, historical, cultural, economic, political, and artistic dance practices, principles and theories through a global lens. Analyze, interpret, and synthesize research, and critique, construct, and embody ideas through oral, literary, electronic, and performance modes.
Teaching Dance Arts
Gain theoretical knowledge and practical experience to pursue careers in teaching dance as a method of self-expression, self-discovery, and self-knowledge. Discover various dance techniques, principles of music, anatomy, curriculum development, and pedagogy.
Program Highlights
New York City Internships
Internships and independent studies create a bridge from college to the professional world. MMC’s BA in Dance students have studied with a number of prestigious companies and organizations, including Martha Graham, David Parsons, Stephen Petronio, American Ballet Theater, The Ailey School, New York City Ballet, and many more.
Performance Opportunities
The MMC Dance Company is a year-long competitive “residency,” cast by audition only, in which students work closely with some of today’s most important choreographers. Additionally, biannual Mainstage productions and Dancers At Work programs provide performance opportunities for MMC Dance majors.
Study Abroad
MMC dancers have studied around the world, including at the prestigious Academy of Theatre and Dance in Amsterdam, the Jerusalem Academy of Music and Dance in Israel, London Contemporary Dance School in the United Kingdom, and the Lorenzo de’Medici Institute in Italy.
As an international student from Bolivia, I strive to utilize my art and knowledge, as well as my culture as an outlet to generate social impact, awareness, and meaningful entertainment. Marymount Manhattan College has helped me grow as an artist, individual, and professional on so many levels.
Paulina Eid Harasic ’21Class of 2021, B.A. in Business with concentration in Advertising and Promotion and B.A. in Dance with a concentration in Teaching Dance Arts.
Careers and Outcomes
Dancing at Distancing
With the reopening of MMC’s Main Campus during the Fall 2020 semester, the Department of Dance was challenged with continuing instruction in a discipline characterized by live performance. Following the Virtual/Open Campus model of education, dance instruction persevered via the addition of new equipment, implementation of health and safety protocols, and the determination of MMC students and faculty.
