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School of the Arts

Conservatory of Dance

Train. Innovate. Grow. We offer an education at the forefront of contemporary professional dance, while remaining committed to classical foundations.

Dance Performance

  • Major
  • BFA

All students major in the Dance Performance BFA program. Concentrations by application include include dance performance, ballet, dance composition, and dance production.

Professional Training

The Conservatory of Dance in the School of the Arts at Purchase College is one of only a handful of conservatories in the world where you can learn what it means to be a dance professional. The opportunity provided to individuals committed to the full realization of themselves as artists is second to none.

Professional Connections

The Conservatory of Dance’s BFA program gives students a comprehensive entrée into the world of professional dance. Purchase alumni currently perform with many of the foremost international contemporary modern and ballet choreographers and companies.

They also teach, direct, and choreograph major productions, dance on Broadway, have founded companies across the globe, and are nurturing the next generation as professors in higher education.

Upcoming Events:

  • Apr 27
    Photo of dancer taken in mid-jump

    First Year Dance Concert

    Time:  7:30pm

    The First Year Dance Concert features an exciting and diverse range of world premieres and renowned repertory works in order to showcase the dynamic range of our first year class and several of our talented alumni!

    We are thrilled to present an excerpt of seminal choreographer Merce Cunningham’s Fielding Sixes (1980), a twentieth century masterpiece staged by esteemed faculty member Jean Freebury. And, we welcome back alumni Lindsey Jones, Sienna Blaw and Angelina Laguna to perform excerpts of Cunningham’s riveting 1970 work, Signals with Loops (1971) as well as Antic Meet (1958), staged by acclaimed former company members Jean Freebury, Daniel Madoff, and Andrea Weber

     Two of our celebrated faculty members, Linda Celeste Sims and Nelly van Bommel Zelniker, will premiere dynamic contemporary works, created expressly for our first year dancers. Sims’ orin ilu (premiere) and van Bommel Zelniker’s Fanfarneta (premiere) have enabled our students to be an integral part of the creative process as our faculty bring their artistic visions to the stage.

  • May 3
    Dancer in motion, bending over right leg while left leg extended behind and above.

    Purchase Dance Company’s Spring 2024 Dance Concert

    Time:  8:00pm

    7:15pm Artist Talk in PepsiCo Theatre Lobby

    The Purchase Dance Company Spring Concert celebrates our remarkable Purchase Dance Community with an exciting program of works created and staged by our esteemed faculty and alumni and performed by our professional caliber students.

    We are honored to pay tribute to the late Kevin Wynn, a beloved faculty member and celebrated figure in the dance community, with his captivating work Sleeping Where I Stumble (2015), staged by three talented Dance alum, Paul Giarratano, Keerati Jinakunwiphat, Claude Johnson (CJ).

    Celebrated Guggenheim Fellow, Dance alum, and current faculty member, Doug Varone, Artistic Director of Doug Varone & Dancers, will keep the audience riveted with Rise (1993), a dramatic contemporary work.

    We are thrilled to present George Balanchine’s Valse Fantaisie (1969), a classical ballet masterpiece expertly staged by Professor Bettijane Sills, former soloist with New York City Ballet.

    An exciting commission for Dance alum Cain Coleman, entitled Shared Generation (premiere), has enabled our students to be an integral part of the creative process as Coleman brings his artistic vision to the stage with a new contemporary piece, created expressly for this season.

    Join us for an unforgettable dance performance!

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