Dance

As a dance major at Cornish, you’ll combine rigorous training with creative freedom. Develop the healthy and sustainable practices you’ll need to be a working dancer. Immerse yourself in a curriculum centered on technique, collaboration, improvisation, screendance, choreography, and performance. Learn from faculty members who have mastered multiple forms of dance and pioneered their own. Join a community of collaborators and innovators shaping the Seattle dance world, and beyond.

BFA in Dance

What Will You Learn
as A Dance Major at Cornish?

The dance program at Cornish prepares you to perform, choreograph, direct and teach dance. You’ll know your history and you’ll develop the skills to speak and write about dance.

Spend an average of 6 to 8 hours each day in the studio, with a minimum of 13 hours of technique classes per week. Perform both choreographed and improvisational works. The department offers additional elective technique classes each semester.

Refine your technique in contemporary dance styles, jazz, modern, and ballet. Learn the fundamentals of technical production and design. Choreograph and create performance pieces for both real-world and digital spaces.

Image Credits:

Header Image – Photo by Joseph Lambert. “Echoes”, choreographed by Rauf “RubberLegz” Yasit from Spring 2024 Cornish Dance Theater. Pictured: Daezhane Day, Iverson Harding, Gabriela Ross, Madison Steele.

Bottom Image – Photo by Joseph Lambert. “Bacchanale for Syvilla Fort”, choreographed by Black Collectivity from Spring 2024 Cornish Dance Theater. Pictured: Natalie Johnson and Gavino Lucero.

Recent Cornish News & Blog Posts

A black and white photo of dancers on a stage.

Lenora St. Blog

Exploring the Creative Legacy of Merce Cunningham

Front Page

Cornish Alum Laura Rodriguez Featured in Dance Magazine

Front Page

Visiting Professor Melanie George Featured in Dance Magazine

All of the projects, late nights, last-minute rehearsals, collaborations, risk-taking ideas, heated arguments in critique, and final products, those moments that represent your college career — those moments are greatness.Margaret Phyllis Johnson & Theresa Lynn Alexander (DA ’17)