The B.A. in Dance thoroughly integrates learning to dance, learning to make dances, and critical interrogation of dance as a cultural practice. Students study a variety of dance forms throughout their studies. They enroll in a four-term sequence in dance composition, with additional opportunities to participate in the creation of their own dances, as well as working as dancers in the creation of new works by faculty members and visiting artists. Further, they engage in a core of four courses in the study of scholarly discourse around the body and dance, launching a critical inquiry into their own study of bodily practices, internalization of the embodied experience, and how bodily ideas and embodied experiences are interpreted and communicated outwardly and interpersonally, both locally and globally.
Focuses on training and education include:
- Choreography
- Performance
- Critical Dance Studies
- Videography
- Dance in the public sphere
Students completing the Dance major will be able to:
- Choreograph dances in a variety of settings, cultural contexts, and media, with an emphasis on progressive approaches;
- Engage creatively and problem-solve with issues tied to arts and activism, dance-making and producing in an intercultural and interdisciplinary context within multiple formats including the stage, alternative spaces and new media;
- Think critically about the relationship between esthetics and politics through choreography, writing, research and discussion;
- Demonstrate advanced proficiency in at least two movement disciplines;
- Analyze dance works in terms of vocabulary, location, syntax and their political, cultural and historical implications;
- Demonstrate an ability to understand and implement collaboration in an art-making practice;
- Recognize and synthesize in written and oral formats the key concepts within the field of Critical Dance Studies.
Comprehensive information on the undergraduate curriculum for current students can be found in the 2024-2025 Undergraduate Handbook (820.27 kB). We recommend you download and save your admit year's handbook.
Details about individual courses can be found on the UCLA Registrar's website.
FOR CURRENT DANCE STUDENTS:
Please refer to the handbook for your admit year. Follow up with your student affairs officer if you need a copy.