Nov 22, 2024
OHIO University Undergraduate Catalog 2021-22
OHIO University Undergraduate Catalog 2021-22 [Archived Catalog]

Dance Major (B.A.)


Major Code: BA5150

College of Fine Arts
School of Dance
Putnam Hall 137
Athens, OH 45701
Phone: 740.593.1828
Fax: 740.593.0749
dance@ohio.edu
www.ohio.edu/finearts/dance/

Travis Gatling, contact person
gatling@ohio.edu

Program Overview

The Bachelor of Arts curriculum offers a program of broad study in dance within a liberal arts degree framework. The B.A. degree develops the dance skills necessary to perform and a facility in the use of principles and procedures that reflect an intellectual grasp of the art. The degree presents strong potential for interdisciplinary studies and provides the preparation for future graduate study. A required core curriculum in the first year emphasizes developing performance skills through the study of technique, and fostering creative abilities through the study of choreography. Other major coursework in dance provides a broad knowledge in dance history, ethnology, kinesiology, music, and the teaching of dance. The B.A. degree in dance also offers different possibilities for double majors with other disciplines in Arts and Sciences than the B.F.A. degree in dance.

Admissions Information

Freshman/First-Year Admission

In addition to general admission requirements to Ohio University, the School of Dance requires a dance application and dance audition. Acceptance to the Dance major or minor program in choreography and performance is by talent audition. Auditions are scheduled to coordinate with various University application deadlines.

The audition class includes modern, ballet, and jazz portions, and improvisation. Each of these provides the dancer with an opportunity to demonstrate his or her talent, level of training, and aptitude for further study in dance. Auditionees are not expected to demonstrate proficiency in all techniques. The audition committee evaluates technical proficiency, physical strength and flexibility, spatial and rhythmic accuracy, and performance quality. Dancers should be prepared to take class in dance wear that allows freedom of movement. You will need to dance barefoot for the modern portion of the audition class and may bring ballet slippers or jazz shoes to wear for the ballet and jazz portions of class.

Although attending a scheduled audition is the best possible means of representing your talent, if you are unable to attend, please call our office at 740.593.1828 to discuss the possibility of other arrangements.

Change of Program Policy

Admission to the dance major or minor is by audition and application. To apply for the dance major, students should fill out the online form “College of Fine Arts Application for Update of Academic Program”:  https://ohio.qualtrics.com/jfe/form/SV_25DjACpmC4WKV7v

External Transfer Admission

In addition to University admission requirements, transfer students must complete a dance application and dance audition for consideration of admission to the School of Dance. Transfer students should contact our office at 740.593.1828 to discuss the audition class.

Opportunities Upon Graduation

Approximately 70% of our graduates continue in the field of dance and related arts. Career opportunities available to the dance graduate include preparation and/or studies leading to the following:

  • Choreographer for concert, theater, video, film, fashion, or public events;
  • Dancer in companies or theatrical productions;
  • Company manager or arts administrator;
  • Studio teacher of children and adults in modern, ballet, jazz, African technique; teaching in university programs, K-12 programs;
  • Body-based therapeutic work such as pilates, Bartenieff Fundamentals, massage therapy, physical therapy, exercise physiology, dance movement therapist;
  • Dance critic or dance-related cultural historian, writing in dance;
  • Graduate study in dance

Requirements

Total Hours Required

The Bachelor of Arts degree with major in Dance requires a minimum of 120 hours.

Universitywide Graduation Requirements


To complete this program, students must meet all Universitywide graduation requirements .

College-Level Requirements for the College of Fine Arts


View the College-Level Requirements for the College of Fine Arts.

College of Fine Arts (COFA) B.A. Degree Requirements


B.A. Degree and Requirements

General requirements for a B.A. are

  1. a minimum of 120 semester hours;
  2. 57 hours of coursework above the 1999 level;
  3. the equivalent of two years of college-level foreign language;
  4. at least 9 hours each of humanities, social sciences, and 6 hours of natural sciences coursework;
  5. OHIO BRICKS  ; and
  6. all requirements stipulated by the school for the chosen major.

Minors are optional.

B.A. Degree Language Options

B.A.: Students must complete 2120 (or its equivalent). Students taking the Spanish, French, or German placement test and who test into 3110 will have fulfilled their foreign language requirement. The placement exam does not count as college credit. Students who test into 3110 are encouraged to take the course they placed into for college credit. These higher-level courses will count as humanities courses (and A&S 2000-level or higher) as well as towards a minor or major in the field.

Students who have prior knowledge of one of the following foreign languages should contact the academic departments listed below for test-out and placement information:

American Sign Language - Contact person: Becky Brooks - saunderb@ohio.edu - 740.654.6711 - Lancaster Campus

French, German, Italian, Portuguese, Spanish, or Russian - Modern Languages - Gordy Hall 283 - contact: modern.languages@ohio.edu - 740.593.2765

Arabic, Chinese, Hindi, Indonesian, Japanese, Kikuyu, Khmer, Somali, Sudanese Arabic, Swahili, Thai, Twi, Vietnamese, Wolof, or Zulu - Linguistics - Gordy Hall 383

Greek or Latin - Classics and World Religions - Contact person: Bill Owens owensb@ohio.edu - Ellis 210

Students who have prior knowledge of a foreign language not offered at Ohio University can opt to take the NYU Foreign 12-Point exam (approximate cost $350) to complete their foreign language requirement: www.scps.nyu.edu/academics/departments/foreign-languages/testing/process.html

International Students

For international students whose first or native language is not English, and who completed high school where the first or native language was the one primarily used for instruction, the foreign language requirement may be satisfied by demonstrating competence in English. This must be approved by the assistant dean in the College of Fine Arts, and it generally requires the successful completion of at least one or more courses in English as a foreign language.

You may also satisfy the foreign language requirement by taking a foreign language other than your own first language at Ohio University, or by successfully completing the NYU foreign language exam.

Enrollment in the beginning or intermediate level (under 3000) of your own first language(s) will be considered a noncredit course.

Please contact the Fine Arts Undergraduate Student Affairs office at 740.593.1808 for additional information.

Liberal Arts and Sciences Distribution Requirements

Humanities Area Requirement *

The humanities requirement may be met by selecting 9 semester hours from the following:

  1. African American Studies:  AAS 1060 1100 1500 2100 2110 2500 3100 3170 3500 3520 3530 3550 3560 ,   3570
  2. Academic and Global Communication: AGC 1300
  3. College of Arts and Sciences:  CAS 1110 CAS 2300 2411 , 2405 2500 *
  4. Art History: AH
  5. Classical Archaeology,  except CLAR 2110 2120 2130 3650
  6. Classics in English: CLAS
  7. Communication Studies:  COMS 3601 3602 3603
  8. Dance:  DANC 2700 3550 4710 4750
  9. English:  except ENG D150 D160 1510 1610 4510 4520 4911 4912  ,  ENG 1510L
  10. Fine Arts:  FAR 1500
  11. Foreign language courses other than those used to complete the foreign language requirement and  except FR 1199 FR 2930 FR 4640 GER 2930 ITAL 2930 ,   JPN 3410 RUS 2930 SPAN 1199 , and  SPAN 2930
  12. History:  HIST 1210 1220 2270 HIST 2700  ,  2530 HIST 2600 2950 3111J 3140 HIST 3141 3144 3146 HIST 3147 3148 3224 3290 3291 3292 3293 3390 3501 3520 , HIST 3521 3531 3532 3533 3540 3541 3542 HIST 3550 3560 3562 3600 3840  ,  3860 3861 3864 3900 4536
  13. Humanities: HUM
  14. Interdisciplinary Arts: IART
  15. International Literatures in English, International Literature: Linguistics, and International Literature: Modern Languages  except ILL 3890
  16. Jewish Studies: (all),  JS 1000 2100 2900
  17. Modern Languages:  ML 2300 2950  ,  3210J  ,  3270J
  18. Music/Music Literature:  1250 1240 2240 3210 3625 4210 4211 4212 4213 4214 4215 4216 4270
  19. Philosophy:  except PHIL 1200
  20. Portuguese:   PORT 3110 3120 3180 3190  ,  4110  ,  4120
  21. Theater:  THAR 2710 2711
  22. University Professor:  UP 1901 1901U 4901U  (class subjects vary; check Course Offerings for more information)
  23. Women’s, Gender, and Sexuality Studies:  except WGS 3910
  24. World Religions:  except CLWR 4340 4350

Social Sciences Area Requirement *

The social sciences requirement may be met by a selection of 9 semester hours from the following:

  1. African American Studies:  AAS 1010 1900 2020 2200 2250 2540 ,   3400 3410 3450 3460 3680 4400 4820
  2. Academic and Global Communication:  AGC 1300
  3. Anthropology:  except ANTH 2010 3460 3550 3600 4470 4480 4740 4960 , and those listed as natural sciences below
  4. Business Law:  BUSL 2000 2550 3400
  5. Classical Archaeology:  CLAR 2110 2120 2130 3650
  6. College of Arts and Sciences:  CAS 1120 1415 1425 1605 , CAS 2300  ,  2410 2411 2405 2500 2600 4410 4911 *  
  7. Economics: ECON
  8. Environmental and Plant Biology:  PBIO 2170
  9. Geography: GEOG  except those listed under Natural Sciences (see below)
  10. History: HIST  except those listed under Humanities (see above)
  11. International Studies: INST
  12. International Literature:  ILL 3890
  13. Japanese:  JPN 3410
  14. Law, Justice, and Culture:  LJC 2000 3915 4945
  15. Linguistics: LING
    Modern Languages:  ML 2400
  16. Political Science: POLS
  17. Psychology:  except PSY 1110 2110 PSY 2111 PSY 2112 2210 3110 3230
  18. Social Work: SW
  19. Sociology: SOC
  20. University Professor:  UP 1901S 4901S  (class subjects vary; check Course Offerings for more information)
  21. Women’s, Gender, and Sexuality Studies:  WGS 3910
  22. World Religions:  CLWR 4340 4350

Natural Sciences Area Requirement *

The natural sciences requirement may be met by selecting 9 semester hours from the following:

  1. Anthropology:  ANTH 2010 3460 3550 3600 4470 4480 4740 4960
  2. Astronomy: ASTR
  3. Biological Sciences: BIOS,  BIOL 1010
  4. Chemistry:  except CHEM D015 1100 1150 1151 1152 3005 3006
  5. College of Arts and Sciences:  CAS 2411 1415 2405 2600
  6. Computer Science:  CS 3000 4160
  7. Environmental and Plant Biology:  except PBIO 2170
  8. Geography:  GEOG 1100 , GEOG 2060 GEOG 2680 GEOG 2710 3010 3020 3031  ,  3040 3050 3150 3160 3580 GEOG 3650 4035  ,  4060 4070 4080 4090 4110 GEOG 4130 4170 4660 4670 4712 GEOG 4730 GEOG 4760 4770 4941 4942 4943 4944
  9. Geological Sciences: GEOL
  10. Mathematics:  except MATH D004 D005 1060 1090 1101 1102 1200 1300 1321 1322 MATH 1500  , 4100
  11. Physical Science: PSC
  12. Psychology:  PSY 2110 2210 PSY 2111 PSY 2112  , 3110 3230
  13. Physics: PHYS
  14. University Professor:  UP 1901N 4901N  (class subjects vary; check Course Offerings for more information)

* May only count in one area.

Note:  Methods  courses are not applicable to area requirements.

*These listings must be used as the official guide for the completion of the Arts and Sciences area (distribution) requirements. Exceptions to the 9-hour Arts and Sciences area distribution will be made only under the most unusual of circumstances and by petition only. Consideration for inclusion of courses not listed is not made on an  ad hoc basis  but requires formal approval of the Arts and Sciences Curriculum Committee.

Some courses from these categories may also be applied to the University general education requirements. However, the three Arts and Sciences area categories differ in scope from the five  OHIO BRICKS   groupings. If you wish to select a course that will apply to both the Arts and Sciences and general education requirements, take care to choose a course that has been approved for the desired category in both the College and the University listings. Courses that can fulfill quantitative reasoning and written communication  OHIO BRICKS  requirements and the capstone requirement do not apply to the Arts and Sciences area distribution requirements. Exceptions include  MATH 1350  and  PSY 2110 .

The list of courses appears in the  OHIO BRICKS   section of the catalog.

Level-of-Study Requirement

Hours at the 2000 level or above : Within the total hours applied to the degree, at least 57 semester hours of courses must be above the freshman level (numbered above 1999). These courses are listed earlier in this section under humanities, social sciences, and natural sciences, and include foreign languages, courses from the department major, and courses taught by faculty in the College of Fine Arts or Arts and Sciences intended to meet the advanced writing or capstone.

Single Application of Credit and Exceptions

Excluding the exceptions listed below, no course may satisfy more than one of the three area distribution requirements in foreign language, humanities, social sciences, or the major requirement. For example, a theater major may not apply any courses in theater toward the humanities area distribution requirement. Courses that fulfill freshman OHIO BRICKS requirements or capstone will not apply to the distribution area requirements.

Exceptions are:

  • MATH 1350  and PSY 2110 (will fulfill the quantitative reasoning requirement, as well as the natural science area distribution).
  • Advanced writing courses offered by departments within the College of Fine Arts or the College of Arts and Sciences  apply to the area distribution requirement except when they are required for the major.

Foundational Dance Requirements


Complete the following courses:

Studio Dance Technique


Complete a minimum of one-year (2 semesters) of dance studio technique in addition to completion of the freshman dance major/minor requirements and demonstrate proficiency in a studio technique. Studio dance technique must be taken in sequence.

Complete two of the following courses:

Dance History, World Dance and Culture


Complete the following course:

Complete one of the following courses:


Complete one of the following courses:


Dance Kinesiology and Somatic Study


Complete the following course:

Complete one of the following courses:


Movement Analysis


Complete the following course:

Dance Pedagogy


Complete the following course:

Dance Production


Complete the following course:

Capstone


Complete the following course:

Dance Electives and Interdisciplinary Courses


Dance Electives


Complete a minimum of 10 hours, in consultation with your dance academic advisor.

Interdisciplinary Electives


Complete a minimum of 9 hours in disciplines other than dance in consultation with your dance academic advisor.