The Conservatory of Dance strives to develop a diverse, stimulating, and inclusive community of artistic excellence. Creativity, versatility, and individuality are central to our mission. Students are encouraged to realize their full potential and to cultivate their unique, artistic visions. We prepare undergraduates to enter the professional dance field and provide them with the tools to create a sustainable and rewarding life in dance. Our internationally recognized program prepares the next generation of leading dance artists to thrive and make meaningful contributions to the rapidly changing dance world.
Tradition and innovation are in conversation in the Conservatory of Dance. Our prominent faculty and acclaimed guest artists offer rigorous professional training in ballet and modern techniques, alongside diverse contemporary dance forms. Our four-year composition program encourages young artists to imagine their individual choreographic voices, while our extensive somatic offerings nurture the whole being. In depth study of improvisation, music, anatomy, production, and dance history provides a comprehensive entrée to the professional dance world.
Criteria for Acceptance:
Admission to the Conservatory of Dance is competitive. Acceptance is based primarily on your dance audition, demonstrating:
Extensive prior training in modern, contemporary and/or classical ballet
Serious commitment to dance training and a career in the professional dance field
Talent and potential as a performer
Musicality
Requirements for Graduation
The BFA in Dance is awarded upon the successful completion of course requirements and demonstrated quality of the student’s technical ability and creative initiative. The standard residency requirement in the Conservatory of Dance BFA program is four years (eight semesters), with rare exceptions; the minimum residency requirement is three years (six semesters).
All students enter the conservatory program in the area of dance performance. Subsequently, they may remain in dance performance or apply for one the following concentrations: ballet, dance composition (choreography), or dance production. Concentrations seek to satisfy a student’s talent, passion, and dedication in a given area. Concentration decisions are approved by the Dance faculty.
Graduation is dependent on the successful completion of course requirements, which include a minimum of 30 liberal arts credits. Students must meet all general degree requirements as well as conservatory requirements for graduation.
Minimum Grade Requirements
Conservatory of Dance students in all concentrations are expected to maintain a grade of C or higher in all required dance courses, excluding the senior project. A student who receives grades of C- or lower for two or more semesters may no longer be eligible for scholarship funds and performance opportunities and may be dismissed from the conservatory.
BFA Concentrations
All students take the same required dance courses in the freshman and sophomore years. At the end of the sophomore year, students may apply for one of the following concentrations: ballet, dance composition, or dance production. Professional dance credits are awarded on the basis of the student’s consistent artistic growth.
Concentration decisions are approved by the Dance faculty. Sophomore jury results determine a student’s concentration status.
The Training Program
All BFA students study classical ballet and/or modern or contemporary dance daily. Placement auditions to determine the level of each student may be required depending on the semester. Students also choose from a range of electives.
Performance is an integral and required part of the professional training program. The Purchase Dance Company (comprised of BFA students in the Conservatory of Dance) performs major concerts in the Performing Arts Center; in student and faculty concerts in the Dance Theatre Lab; and on tour in New York City, New York State, and abroad. They also participate in special performances for children and at lecture/demonstrations. The program culminates in the senior project, for which each senior performs a repertory piece and co-produces a concert as requirements for graduation.
Repertory for the Purchase Dance Company’s major concerts and tours has included Kyla Abraham’s Counterpoint; George Balanchine’s Serenade, Valse-Fantaisie, The Four Temperaments, and Tarantella; Aszure Barton’s Over/Come; Trisha Brown’s Set and Reset and Glacial Decoy; Merce Cunningham’s Changing Steps, Duets, and Septet; Martha Graham’s Chronicle; Lester Horton’s Beloved; Doris Humphrey’s The Shakers and Passacaglia; Bill T. Jones’ Spent Days Out Yonder and D-Man in the Waters; Jose Limón’s A Choreographic Offering; Lar Lubovitch’s Dvorak Serenade; Kenneth MacMillan’s Pas de Deux from Concerto; Dianne McIntyre’s Lyric Fire; Lin Hwai Min’s Crossing the BlackWater; Mark Morris’ Gloria, A Lake and Grand Duo; Ohad Naharin’s Decadance; Matthew Neenan’s As it’s going; Stephen Petronio’s Lareigne; Paul Taylor’s Cloven Kingdom, Le Sacre du Printemps, Junction, and Company B; Twyla Tharp’s Sweet Fields; Doug Varone’s Strict Love, Possession, Lux, and Rise; as well as work created for the Purchase Dance Company by Adam Barruch, Kimberly Bartosik, Alexandra Beller, Rena Butler, Norbert De La Cruz III, Gregory Dolbashian; Brian Enos; Jenelle Figgins, Ori Flomin, Nicolo Fonte, Roderick George, Shannon Gillen; Joseph Hernandez, Robert Hill, Loni Landon, Jessica Lang, Ana Maria Lucaciu; MADboots Dance; Helen Pickett, Claire Porter, Lauri Stallings, Pam Tanowitz, Luca Veggetti, Shen Wei, Stanton Welch, Marcus Jarrell Willis, and works by faculty.
The creative process of choreography is studied through a three-year program in dance composition preceded by one year of improvisation. Juniors present choreographic projects in preparation for their senior projects the following year. The program culminates in fully produced senior projects in composition, performed in the Dance Theatre Lab as a requirement for graduation. Student choreography is auditioned for student concerts, student/faculty concerts, and lecture/demonstrations.
The Conservatory of Dance has a strong commitment to the musical training of its students. This is reflected in the curriculum, which includes a historical survey of musical resources and courses that explore the shared elements of temporal arts (meter, tempo, rhythm, dynamics, texture, phrase, form, etc.), coaching for musicality, and score reading, together with extensive listening and analysis. Students receive hands-on percussion/rhythmic training and investigate the long relationship between music and dance history.
In addition to training in technique and composition, students study the history of dance as an evolving form. Eight credits of dance history are a requirement for graduation. These 8 credits may count toward the liberal arts requirement (30 credits minimum) for the BFA.
Students supplement their movement practices with courses in somatics designed to heighten their strength, stability, muscular balance, connection to breath, and neuromuscular connectivity. (Continuum/Fluid Form, Yoga, Alexander Technique, Body/Mind Explorations)
All students are required to study Pilates mat in their 1st semester. If they wish to continue their study of Pilates, they may join our Pilates Mat Micro-Credential, which is a multi-semester study of Joseph Pilates’s Mat exercises culminating in the ability to perform, teach and structure a safe and effective Pilates Mat workout.
A course in anatomy helps students understand the biomechanical functioning of the dancing body. Students investigate the skeletal structure, muscles, tendons, and ligaments; movement range in joints; and injury care, cure, and prevention through the principles of Swedish massage.
Students’ schedules are rounded out with a wide variety of elective courses, allowing them to expand their knowledge of the diversity of the art form. Elective courses vary and may include dance styles (Gaga, Musical Theatre, Hip Hop, Voguing, Commercial Dance, Jazz, Text and Movement, etc.), Interdisciplinary Movement Theater, Costumes for Dancers, and “Explorations in neuroaesthetics: your Brain on Art.”
