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Cornish College of the Arts

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Department Overview

Dancer

The Cornish Dance Department offers challenging classes and a supportive environment in which you can discover your own voice, moving beyond imitation to creative self-expression. Our BFA program is unique in its holistic educational focus that addresses the heart and mind as well as the body. We will give you the tools to create a sustainable life in dance: excellent technique based on anatomical awareness, versatile performance skills, choreographic craft and creative voice, teaching and technical production experience, and knowledge of the business of dance. You will also develop an inner sense of self that will help you navigate the many opportunities available to you in dance.

You'll join a community of students committed to becoming professional dancers. For the first time in your life you'll be surrounded by people who want to eat, think, sleep and dream dance. The drive and focus of our students create an energy that is contagious and will help you to work to your full potential.

Curriculum

Your program of study at Cornish will include stimulating classes, discussions and performances that will broaden and deepen your understanding of dance as an art form. You will spend an average of 6 to 8 hours per day in dance courses, with a minimum of 16 hours of technique classes per week.

Intensive daily ballet and modern dance classes form the core of our technique curriculum, with additional courses offered in pointe, partnering, men's technique, jazz, hip hop, tap, world dance, martial arts, conditioning and alternative somatic techniques. This variety of dance styles gives our students versatile performance skills. Our technique classes emphasize anatomically- sound technique based on efficient movement mechanics and the recognition of individual physical limitations. Accompanying courses in anatomy and injury prevention teach you how to dance well with your body.

Cornish Dance Theater

The Dance curriculum at Cornish places equal emphasis on physical mastery and creative expression. A three-year sequence of courses in choreography and improvisation develops your knowledge of choreographic craft and fosters the development of your personal voice. You will progress from simple movement studies to fully developed works as you learn choreographic structures and forms. As part of your choreographic training, you will learn to collaborate with students from other artistic disciplines, sometimes using digital technology to blend dance with video and sound.

Dance history and theory courses provide you with an academic foundation that stimulates artistic growth and allows you to see your present and future work in a historical context. Subjects such as music and movement analysis offer a broader understanding of the world of dance, while courses in stage production give you a working knowledge of the backstage aspects of dance performances. You will learn to create your own career opportunities by studying the business of dance: grant writing, fundraising, and concert production. You will also explore the full range of your creative interests by taking classes in the other Cornish artistic disciplines.

Coursework in the Humanities and Sciences department supplements dance classes, giving you an opportunity to explore the philosophical, literary, and historical contexts in which art takes place. This program gives students a general foundation in academic skills, such as research and writing, which will complement your education as an artist.

A senior project is the final requirement of your BFA program. You will select a specific area for study, working with a faculty member to develop the scope of your project. Most often this will involve an advanced level of choreography and a performance open to the public; however, senior projects may also feature video production, dance photography, teaching internships and historical research.

You will emerge from the Cornish Dance program with a broad knowledge of the practice, theory, and history of dance, ready to contribute your own innovations to the arts world of the 21st century.

Professional Dancers Program

If you have extensive professional experience, you may qualify for our Professional Dancers Program, which awards up to two years of credit for significant professional experience. Contact the Dance Department at dance@cornish.edu or 206.726.5079 for more information.

Performance and Choreographic Opportunities

Cornish Dance Theater

The Dance Department offers students performing experience in a variety of settings. Cornish Dance Theater, the department's performing ensemble, presents bi-annual concerts with choreography by faculty and professional guest choreographers, including re-stagings of historic masterworks. The annual New Moves student choreography concerts and BFA senior project concerts provide additional performance and choreographic opportunities. Dance students also participate in interdepartmental productions such as musicals and collaborate with students from other departments on special projects.

Wellness Program

The Dance Department emphasizes training healthy dancers who have both the self-confidence to enter a challenging field and the physical understanding that leads to professional longevity. The department supports students' personal growth and development by providing a nurturing environment that encourages self-reflection and the self-knowledge that helps you to balance your artistic and personal dreams. Strength and flexibility exercises are incorporated into all technique classes to prevent injuries. A physical therapist serves as a consultant to the department, advising faculty and students on injury-related concerns and providing treatment on campus. The physical therapist conducts a Performance Enhancement Screening on all new students that leads to an individualized corrective exercise program designed to enhance technical proficiency and reduce the risk of injury during your Cornish education and in your subsequent professional career.

Internships

In your senior year, you are invited to pursue internships with Seattle dance organizations, facilitating your transition from student to professional dancer. Dance interns have the opportunity to learn firsthand the challenges of professional life by apprenticing with major dance companies, assisting dance teachers in public school creative movement workshops and working as assistants to dance company administrators.

K-12 Teaching Certification and Dance Endorsement

The Cornish College of the Arts Dance Department does not offer a teaching certificate for the K-12 school system. However, the department has entered into a formal agreement with the University of Washington Dance Program, enabling Cornish graduates to earn a Dance endorsement upon completion of the Master-in-Teaching degree through the University of Washington's College of Education. Under the agreement, Cornish graduates who have earned a BFA in Dance and complete the University of Washington M-I-T program will qualify for a Washington State Residency Teaching Certificate with a teaching endorsement in Dance. Cornish Dance students and graduates interested in applying to the Teacher Education Program should contact the College of Education at the University of Washington.

Seattle: A Regional Dance Hub

In Seattle, a city which leads the Pacific Northwest in artistic innovation in dance, you'll find a thriving arts community. You'll be in the center of this flourishing environment, with many of Seattle's leading dance professionals on our faculty. What's more, as a student at Cornish, you will use the professional dance community as your classroom: by going to see performances, performing works by leading choreographers, presenting your choreography on professional showcases, and interning with companies. By the time you graduate, you will be well acquainted with Seattle dance professionals, and they will know you as well.

International companies ranging from classical ballet to cutting edge performance art tour regularly to Seattle. Through our partnerships with presenting organizations, you will attend rehearsals and participate in master classes with these prestigious companies. Cornish dance students have observed company class with the Netherlands Dance Theater and dress rehearsals of the Bolshoi Ballet and American Ballet Theater; they have also attended master classes by members of the Eifman Ballet, American Ballet Theater, Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater, Jump Rhythm Jazz Project, Paul Taylor, Mark Morris, Trisha Brown, Stephen Petronio, Bill T. Jones, Martha Graham, Merce Cunningham and Black Grace Dance Companies.

Facilities

The Dance Department has three large, naturally-lit studios, all with sprung hardwood floors, barres and mirrors. Showers and lockers are available in the dressing rooms. All technique classes have professional accompanists, and sound equipment is available for your use. Dance Department concerts take place at Broadway Performance Hall, a 295-seat proscenium theater.

Learning Outcomes

Dancers

Graduates of the Dance Department at Cornish College of the Arts are expected to achieve the following learning outcomes: