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Welcome

We invite you to explore our website and hope you will find it helpful in providing you with information about the department’s programs and events. This is an exciting place to be, where students and faculty are engaged in performing, creating, and analyzing dance.

If you are a prospective student, be sure to read about our scholarships and auditions. We invite you to explore our programs and review our performance calendar. Feel free to contact us with any questions you may have, or to arrange for a visit!

Mission and Overview

The UMBC Department of Dance offers challenging and innovative instruction in technique, performance, history, composition, dance and technology, and production.  The program integrates the study of dance as a discipline within a liberal arts program. Our program develops the “whole” dancer, integrating the physical with the intellectual, and the analytical with the expressive. Students train in a wide range of styles with core faculty and visiting artists, gaining new perspectives about the changing world of contemporary dance. Our goal is to produce unique dance artists who move beautifully, and have something to “say” as dancers and choreographers. We challenge our students to perform to their fullest potential, to test their limits as choreographers, and to question and think critically about dance.

Our Department is dedicated to providing opportunities for students at all levels of skill to study dance. The department prepares future dancers, choreographers, educators and scholars, through a core curriculum that includes traditional and experimental techniques, creative exploration, historical and aesthetic context, technology, and production skills. Students may also prepare for certification to teach dance through a dual program administered by the Department of Dance and the Department of Education.

UMBC is an accredited member of the National Association of Schools of Dance.