CU Boulder’s MFA in Dance

• MFA students show work to their campus community every semester
• A variety of solos, collaborations, and research experiments are shared through classes, department performances, cross-departmental projects, and community sites
• MFA students are often busy with departmental rehearsals and productions but some do organize their schedules to make performance appearances with community ensembles, online venues, international festivals, and professional companies
• Additional performances are encouraged and supported as long as students can keep their academic studies prioritized and vitalized 

In summary, there is no shortage of performance and choreographic opportunities. For that reason, trying to juggle more than 3 projects in a single semester is not advisable.

Those students entering our program with extensive professional backgrounds including teaching, choreography and/or performance may be able to request a modified degree plan. For such students, an interview with the Director of Dance and the Director of Graduate Studies for Dance during the application/audition process is necessary. The interview will help determine if there is a good match between the student's goals and the MFA program.
 

The goal of the modified program for professionals is to provide flexibility in the pursuit of individual goals and the fortification of specific educational gaps. In close consultation with the faculty and graduate advisor, the student will be able to propose and develop new areas of research and creative work. All modifications to the MFA program must receive the approval of program directors and the CU Boulder Graduate School. The number of required credits and semesters will be determined based on the individual’s exceptional professional experiences.

For more information about a modified MFA program, please contact us for consultation and prescreening before completing the formal application process.

The primary core MFA curriculum focuses on the development of the individual artistic voice in performance, choreography, teaching, research and writing. The presentation of new creative work is bolstered, augmented and enriched by the study of theory, history and other artists. 

• The three-year program requires a minimum of 60 credit hours 
• At least 50 credit hours must be completed on campus at CU Boulder 
• Grades lower than a B- cannot be applied towards graduation 
• A 3.0 GPA is needed to graduate
• MFA students must complete a secondary area of emphasis 

Prerequisites & Required Courses Plan of Study

The dance program takes small cohorts to achieve full funding for all MFA candidates through a combination of teaching, teaching assistant, and graduate assistant positions. Our Grads teach movement classes across forms as well as lecture classes on dance and popular culture. Various funding to support creative research is available by application throughout the program. Funding packages for all grads include full tuition remission, insurance, and monthly stipends. 

We believe dancing is essential to the survival and evolution of our species.  We value diverse approaches to, and reason for dance making. Liberatory work, including antiracism and decoloniality, is central to our approach to dancemaking, pedagogy, and department culture. We believe that by making art, unpacking lineages, checking assumptions, and being in conversation with current geopolitical realities, dance can help unlock unexpected, healthy, and just futures. We insist the body is a site of knowledge production and a repository of ancestral knowledge. 

Goals Include:   

• To encourage the clarification and uniqueness of one’s choreographic voice, embodied scholarship, pedagogical excellence, and awareness of one’s positionality. 
• To prepare and support grad students in empowering themselves to fulfill their chosen path, both in their graduate studies and in the professional world. 
• To investigate traditional and contemporary approaches to movement invention, choreography, community exchange, collaboration, and performance. 
• To deepen somatic awareness and increase fluency in dance technique, including but not limited to Improvisation, Jazz, African Caribbean, Aerial, Hip-hop, Transcultural Fusion, North and West African dance, Ballet and Contemporary.  
• To engage in and expand the definition of dance research, with particular attention to practice-based research and the generative relationship between scholarship and creative work.  
• To foster inclusive pedagogical strategies including aesthetic, cultural, personal, and anatomical perspectives. 
• To build a community of maker-thinkers committed to clear communication, collective support, and convivial research. 
• To present choreography and creative work on a regular basis and perform in the creative work of faculty, peers, and guest artists. 

• The MFA Application for Fall 2024 is now open
• The deadline is January 15th for domestic applicants and January 3rd for International applicants. 
• We do not accept applications for entry into the spring semester
• The dance program takes small cohorts to achieve full funding for all MFA candidates through a combination of teaching, teaching assistant, and graduate assistant positions. Our Grads teach movement classes across forms as well as lecture classes on dance and popular culture. Various funding to support creative research is available by application throughout the program. Funding packages for all grads include full tuition remission, insurance, and monthly stipends. 

• Hold a baccalaureate degree in any field
• Have an undergraduate GPA of at least 2.75 and meet the Graduate School's Minimum Admission Requirements
• Demonstrate proficiency in dance performance and choreography
• Because the Dance Program uses teaching appointments as the sole form of financial aid for graduate students, all applicants should have some form of teaching experience. Please note that college/university teaching experience is not required.
• Graduate Record Exam (GRE) scores are not required for the MFA in Dance application

Yes, we mean it!

There are prerequisites, such as composition and history, that are advantaged by a degree in dance. But highly motivated students can bridge those gaps of knowledge through our current graduate program. If a high number of deficiencies would prevent completion of the MFA within three years, then we will alternately suggest augmenting your bachelors degree with a fast-track Bachelor of Fine Arts degree.

Our degree in dance does not centralize any single genre of dance or idolize a specific body type. We are imaginarians who’ve decolonized and expanded our definitions of virtuosity. 

We have a current menu of courses that reflect the faculty’s body of knowledge: Hip-hop, dances of North Africa and the Arabian Diaspora, Ballet, European-lineages of Modern dance, dances of the West African Diaspora (including the Caribbean and Americas), Mexican Folklorico, Improvisational dance, Modern dance traditions of the African Diaspora, and an inclusive/abolitionist approach to Somatic Science and embodiment. Importantly, our ideologies and methodologies in dance are not limited by our regional specialties. 

If applicants to our graduate programs do not have a conventional dance degree, we embrace the opportunity to evaluate a dancer’s capacities to move safely, problem-solve intelligently when encountering unfamiliar movements, and execute with superb emotional and physical embodiment. We welcome the opportunity to collaboratively support and guide students of all dance forms in their efforts to deepen expertise and practice in humanity’s current and emerging movement practices.

Bring it.