The Development of the Artist

Photo by Karl Rabe

Professional Development

A dance artist’s growth is a product of the simultaneous development of three interdependent factors: technique, composition, and artistic voice.
It is the Dance Program's aim to provide this threefold development of the student dance artist within the context of a broad-based liberal arts education.

Technique

The first factor is the acquisition of technique, which allows the student to use and explore the tool s/he is working with: the body and its range of movement. A strong technical foundation allows a wide range of expression for choreographers and dancers and is the best defense against injury. Technique develops the dance artist’s primary tool.
Composition

The second factor is the acquisition and investigation of the tools of composition. This involves an understanding of the basic elements of dance (space, time, energy, and movement) and the means to manipulate them through established methods and the generation of new methods. Familiarity with music/sound, theatricality, and stagecraft/design are also goals of the choreographer. This is the development of the choreographer’s toolbox.
Artistic Voice

The third factor is the development of the dance artist him/herself. This entails connecting to one's whole self; becoming aware of one’s mental, psychological, and physical assumptions and biases; developing the curiosity and willingness to feel, expand, and change; and exploring and articulating one's creative vision within a dynamic social context. This is the development of the dance artist’s creative range and capacity for meaningful expression.

A Letter from the Director

Thank you for your interest in the Dance Program at Bard College. As a performing arts program inside of a liberal arts college, we encourage all students of dance to take classes. We are also able to offer those students who decide to make dance a focus of study at Bard, a working environment that remains very personal and responsive to the specific talents and interests of each.

Dance students’ technical and creative development is addressed through a wide stylistic range of technique and composition classes—the Dance Program faculty represent a breadth of professional experience, expertise, and engagement with the dance world. In technique classes we use a contemporary lens to explore a diverse range of ballet and modern dance styles. We also offer courses in Dabkeh, a Palestinian folk dance, and Contemporary African Dance.

Coursework in the Program focuses on developing both capable choreographers and dancers as adept participants in the collaborative process that continues to shape the professional world.

A Letter from the Director

I am pleased to announce that in Fall 2020 we embarked on a partnership with Gibney, a New York City–based dance and social justice organization led by Founder, Artistic Director, and CEO Gina Gibney. This is the fourth professional partnership launched by the Dance Program, which began in 2009 with the Bill T. Jones/Arnie Zane Dance Company, followed by the Trisha Brown Dance Company, and the American Dance Festival.

The Dance Program/Gibney partnership will provide several unique opportunities for students and the wider community. For students it is an opportunity to work closely with a renowned-professional company whose NYC-based center is a hub for dance training, creative mentorship, performances, entrepreneurial advocacy, and social justice initiatives. Each semester, artists selected by Gibney’s leadership will teach courses embedded in the dance curriculum. These will include studio courses for all levels of dancer, as well as seminar courses that address discipline specific topics. Special features of this partnership are the artistic advising of student choreographers by Gibney artists and the performance of Bard Dance senior projects in one of Gibney’s theaters each spring (with adjustments made to accommodate CoVid-necessay protocols.) Extra-curricular workshops and master classes will enhance the educational field of study and once a year Gibney Company will be in residence at the college-taking advantage of unencumbered work time outside of New York City at the beautiful facilities of the Fisher Center. Each company residency will include open rehearsals when possible, and a final, publicly accessible showing through either in person attendance or through livestream. This partnership represents a wide-ranging vision of what dance can be in a liberal arts setting at a time when artist engagement in both the local and global communities is essential.

Dancers who are interested in becoming majors spend their first three semesters taking courses in technique and composition. At the end of this period, both the students and the dance faculty will have come to understand whether or not dance is an appropriate major.

Dance majors are required to explore their creative potential as choreographers and are given the opportunity to see their work produced in LUMA Theater, one of the two performance spaces in the Richard B. Fisher Center for the Performing Arts. There are at least five productions each year open to the public. In addition to creating original choreography to present onstage, dance majors must also complete course work in and outside the dance program.

One of the most significant advantages we have at Bard College is one of geography: we are ninety miles north of New York City. Our proximity to New York underpins our professional partnerships, expands the pool of visiting artists, and offers a diverse field of possibilities for arranging student trips to see professional performances.

We encourage you to make contact with us and visit campus through remote or in person channels. If in person visiting is an option, you are welcome to observe classes and even take a technique class while here. I, and members of the dance faculty, are always available for a phone (or zoom) call. Please be in touch with Jen Lown (jlown@bard.edu) to help make arrangements for either option.

Sincerely,
Maria Simpson
Director
Dance Program

Why I Chose Bard

Essentially through making dance a central part of my life here, I have found a new frame of mind to enter academics and the rest of my interests in life, using this daily physical and creative practice to ground my energy and focus it on a multitude of ideas both inside and outside the studio."
—Dance Major, 2014

“What I knew was that any academic pursuit was going to be integral to my growth and evolution as an artist. I decided on philosophy as my second major, and I think they fit together beautifully and they're inseparable. ... One makes me better at the other."
—Dance/Philosophy Major Samuel Pratt '14

The Development of the Artist

Professional Development

A Letter from the Director

A Letter from the Director

Why I Chose Bard

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