At Hollins, dance majors learn to think of dance as a dynamic form, full of possibilities for growth and innovation. Members of the dance community are encouraged to discover, refine, and celebrate who they are as artists. The program offers outstanding technique classes and an eclectic visiting-artist roster. Opportunities to perform and craft are abundant.
Tracks
Bachelor of Arts and Fine Arts (B.A./B.F.A.)
The dance major program here is the first of its kind. It’s intended for students who wish to pursue professional careers as performers or educators.
Bachelor of Arts (B.A.)
The B.A. dance degree is for those interested in gaining a comprehensive background in dance. This degree allows students to engage in other fields of study along with dance.
Dance Minor
Students focus their time studying movement and the overall creative process. This minor requires about half the courses as the major.
Certificate in Arts Management
This certificate in arts management connects your major in one of the arts with career interests in various fields of arts management. You’ll take courses in business and communication studies, complete two internships in an area of arts management, and create a final project. You can meet the certificate in arts management requirements through prudent choices in your general education courses and electives without adding to your total credit hours. Contact us today to begin the process of earning your certificate in arts management.
Musical Theatre Performance Certificate
Musical theatre is one of the most exhilarating art forms on the planet. The unique combination of acting, singing, and dancing allows performing artists to carry audiences to extraordinary heights.
At Hollins, the musical theatre performance certificate offers a toolbox for the student who knows musical theatre will somehow be part of her future, as she prepares to walk into the spotlight on a stage she has built with her own tools.
Apprenticeships, internships, and independent studies
The January Short Term is an ideal time to gain practical experience in an area of special interest. During this time faculty and students develop special courses for an intensive month-long period of study. Past dance apprenticeships and internships include:
- Shen Wei Dance Arts (New York City)
- London Dance Umbrella (London)
- Ronald K. Brown (New York City)
- Brooklyn Academy of Music (New York City)
- American Dance Festival (New York City and Durham, N.C.)
- Harkness Center for Dance Injuries (New York City)
- Symphony Space (New York City)
- Movin’ Spirits Dance Theater, Marlies Yearby (New York City)
- Movement Research (New York City)
- Bill T. Jones/Arnie Zane Dance Company (New York City)
- P.S. 122 (New York City)
- Franklin Furnace (New York City)
- Improvisational Festival (Budapest, Hungary)
- National Dance Institute (New York City)
- DanceWorks Chicago (Chicago)
- Urbanity Dance (Chicago)
- Southwest Virginia Ballet (Roanoke)
In addition, dance students have undertaken independent study projects during January at the following sites:
- Kyoto, Japan Dance Intensive
- New York City Dance Intensive
- Alvin Ailey School January Intensive (New York City)
- American Dance Festival’s January Intensive (New York City)
- Modern Dance Intensive (Paris)
- Dance as a Window on Culture (Prague)
- Creative Landscapes (Japan)
Guest Artists in Residence
Penelope Freeh – Visiting Assistant Professor and Assistant MFA Director
Dance artist and educator Penelope Freeh thoughtfully transforms ballet’s transmission and embodiment. Sitting in the question of how aesthetics shape content and meaning, she makes new dance performance. Heightened theatricality, intimate gesture, coding, and visual design elements reveal deeply personal content. Freeh is a two-time McKnight Fellow for Choreographers, Sage awardee for Outstanding Performer, and her work is in the repertoires of many Minneapolis/St. Paul companies and groups. Inextricably linked collaborations include works developed with composer Jocelyn Hagen. Their dance opera Test Pilot premiered and won a Sage Award for Outstanding Design in 2014 and toured Minnesota in 2016. Choreographer for Minnesota Opera’s The Song Poet, she worked with librettist Kao Kalia Yang, composer Jocelyn Hagen, and director Rick Shiomi. The first ever Hmong-English opera, The Song Poet premiered in 2023. Freeh’s choral ballet Unfashioned Creature, created with composer Timothy C. Takach, fractures Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein into revelatory and redemptive terms and was named a Top Ten Most Memorable Dance Event of 2023 by the Minneapolis StarTribune. Having danced with James Sewell Ballet for seventeen years and served as Artistic Associate from 2007-11, she is an affiliate Lecturer at the University of Minnesota and adjunct Assistant Professor at St. Olaf College. She holds a Dance MFA from Hollins University (completed 2019) where she has served as a Thesis Production Coordinator since 2022 and was a Visiting Assistant Professor in Fall 2023. During covid she co-founded TINATA, a thriving long-distance performance collective with Hollins cohort colleagues Brynne Billingsley and Elizabeth Corbett.
Brynne Billingsley – Visiting Guest Artist
Todd Rhoades is a performer, educator, and choreographer. He has his B.F.A. in dance from Point Park University and his M.F.A. in dance (choreography) from the University of Iowa. Todd danced professionally with Pittsburgh Ballet Theatre, Pittsburgh Symphony/Pittsburgh Pops, Ballet Austin, Luna Negra Dance Theatre, The Seldoms, the Lyric Opera of Chicago, Chicago Opera Theatre, the MUNY in St. Louis, the Goodman Theatre, the Paramount Theatre (Aurora, IL), the Marriott Theatre, and the Drury Lane Theatre in Oakbrook. Choreographic credits seen onstage with The University of Michigan (theatre/opera/dance), The Theater School of DePaul University, the University of Iowa, Inaside Chicago Dance, Nomi Dance Theater, Dance in the Parks, Paramount Theatre, Lifeline Theater, Finger Lakes Opera/New York State Ballet, New Orleans Opera/New Orleans Ballet, and Des Moines Metro Opera. Todd has been on faculty at the University of Iowa Department of Dance, The Theater School of DePaul University, and Ballet Austin Academy. He has also been a guest instructor for Thodos Dance Chicago, Inaside Chicago Dance, ChiArts, Ballet Austin Academy, Southern Vermont Dance Festival, various dance competitions and academies, and the private pilates and yoga instructor for Cirque du Soleil’s cast of Luzía.
Artists/Companies in Residence
Since 1993 Hollins has hosted more than 100 dance professionals as artists-in-residence. These talented artists perform on campus, conduct master classes, and create new works for and with students.