BFA in Dance Program Ranked in Onstage Blog’s Top 10 Dance Programs in the Country for 2016-2017
Posted in: Department of Theatre and Dance News
Montclair State’s BFA Dance program was ranked number five in Onstage blog’s Top 10 Dance Programs in the Country for 2016-2017. The wildly popular Onstage blog is the most active theatre related page on Facebook with a weekly readership of over two million and proves to be a dance and theatre student’s quintessential resource for events and education reviews.
The ranking is based off tuition, curriculum, faculty, career support and considers all aspects of a comprehensive dance education. Onstage heralded the program’s conservatory-based approach to training with a liberal arts curriculum, which prepares students for extraordinary careers as dance professionals. It praised opportunities for students to choreograph, produce and perform their original works, as well as the exceptional performance facilities, theatres, and the competitive placements students achieve at the annual American College Dance Festival.
The Department of Theatre and Dance is proud of the prestigious ranking as the Dance division is in the midst of experiencing exponential growth while looking forward to the dynamic 2016-2017 academic year.
“We are thrilled at being selected as one of the top ten schools for dance in the country. We have worked consistently for many years to bring the best faculty and choreographers to the most passionate students in the best location in the country. Couple that with beautiful new facilities and a very supportive Dean and administration, and that has been our recipe for growth and success,” said Prof. Lori Katterhenry, Deputy Chairperson of the Dance division.
Students will work in expansive, brand-new dance studios in September 2016 in newly renovated facilities on campus, located just 14 miles outside of New York City.
The Dance division has also recently launched a new low-residency MFA Dance program which welcomed its first cohort in June 2016, after receiving an overwhelming response from applicants from around the country.
The Dance division will be producing another astounding performance series during the upcoming academic year. Faculty member Earl Mosley directs the intergenerational dance workshop Hearts of Men, where over 50 men of all ages and backgrounds will be performing September 10th and 11th in the first dance production of the semester.
Students of the BFA Dance program will soon be preparing for the annual dance performances Works-A-Foot and Dance Collage, where the world-renowned Larry Keigwin, choreographer and artistic director of the dance company Keigwin + Company, will be presenting the world premieres for new choreographed pieces for audiences on the Montclair State campus.
Students will also be performing New Second Line, which celebrates the culture and spirit of New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina, by Camille A. Brown and the intoxicatingly energetic Polka by Mark Morris this season.