The dance program provides the opportunity to develop creative, technical, pedagogical and performance skills under the guidance of professional faculty in a supportive environment. The curriculum is structured to develop well-rounded dancers with a solid foundation for a career in performance, choreography, teaching, or advanced graduate study. Click here to learn more about careers in dance.

Emphasis is in modern dance with strong support classes in ballet. Course work includes improvisation, composition, jazz, tap, world dance, dance history, rhythmic awareness, creativity, dance and technology, dance production, pedagogy, creative dance for children, kinesiology, notation, musical theatre and repertory.

WOU has three full-time and one part-time dance faculty members. Guest artists are invited to choreograph and offer workshops, performances and lectures throughtout the year for the campus community and the general public. Internationally famous dance companies frequently appear on campus as part of the Edgar H. Smith Fine Arts Series, many offering workshops and master classes.

Performance and choreographic oppportunities include student choreography for both formal and informal productions, senior thesis projects, the WOU Dance Theatre's repertory performing ensemble, and annual dance concerts. As part of the Department of Theatre and Dance and the Division of Creative Arts, dance students have opportunities for performance in plays, musicals and vaculty and student projects. Students also have opportunites and are encouraged to learn and practice their art in collaboration with students and faculty from other arts disciplines.

Our dance program is featured in Dance Magazine College Guide 2003/2004.