CalArts School of Dance Admissions Book

CALIFORNIA INSTITUTE OF THE ARTS AINROFILAC ETUTITSNI EHT FO STRA CAL ARTS

School of

DANCE

DANCE CHOREOGRAPHY

Site-specific solo at REDCAT performed by Kayla Aguila (Dance BFA 19).

SCHOOL OF

DANCE

To study at The Sharon Disney Lund School of Dance means being part of a one-of-a-kind creative community, working in a dynamic environment that fosters collaboration, experimentation, and creative connections with talented peers from music, theater, film, interactive media, and other artistic disciplines. At CalArts we educate the dance artist of the future—agile, intelligent, innovative, and in command of an expanded skill set that can meet the demands of a 21st century professional dance career. Comprehensive BFA and MFA programs build high-level proficiencies in performance technique, choreography, dance production technologies, and critical understanding of the art form—all within a cultural context that can be performed anywhere in the world.

CalArts’ dance programs offer ample creative exchange and collaboration between professionally motivated students and a faculty of practicing artists. Students develop their individuality and creativity as artists who specialize in using the body as a space for exploration.

Viewed as young professionals, they produce a concentrated season of aesthetically diverse work each semester. Class work includes guidance on performing and choreographing for stage, nontraditional spaces, social media, commercials, filming, editing, photography, writing business plans, advice on creating a company, and developing each individual’s artistic mission.

The School’s performance calendar includes more than 40 performance opportunities featuring esteemed repertory and work by guest artists, faculty, and students each year. These concerts include the Open House Dance Concert, the BFA II Solo Dance Concert, the Winter Dance Concert, Intermission, the MFA Thesis concerts, the Spring Dance Concert, performances in Los Angeles art spaces, and others. More than 25 guest artists are welcomed each year for classes, setting repertory, workshops, and giving lectures. Along with guest artists, we have artists-in-residence that engage with students while making work at CalArts. Various opportunities to study abroad and engage in international dialogue are available to dance students in places such as London, Zurich, Seoul, Paris, and Taipei.

This rigorous schedule provides students with regular performance opportunities and engagement with professional artists, which in turn support the development of highly skilled dance artists and inspire larger ways to think about what dance truly is.

Spring Dance Concert, with original work by faculty Laura Davich (Photo: Josh S. Rose).

CALARTS STUDENTS ARE “PHENOMENAL DANCERS WHO LENT THEIR BODIES AND ENERGIES TO THIS PROJECT.” —Solange Metatronia (Metatron’s Cube): An interdisciplinary piece featuring dance and sculpture directed and created by Solange in partnership with Uniqlo, with 14 CalArts dancers.

PR OG RA M IN

DA N C E The BFA Program in Dance is an intensive education in which you will develop high-level professional skills in a variety of dance practices. Dancers pursue rigorous training in technique (ballet, contemporary, hip-hop, and more), choreography, and interdisciplinary and mediadriven collaborations. The curriculum also includes courses in critical dance studies, performance studies, dance on camera, music, Pilates, and anatomy, as well as courses across campus in other arts and media.

CalArts Dance offers comprehensive instruction in dance production, including stagecraft, lighting, and costume design. Through career-building workshops, you will match your creative visions with the professional tools needed to see them through. CalArts dancers regularly perform and experiment in a variety of contexts, including stages, galleries, films, public spaces, online platforms, and more, as the school is attuned to the changing field and demands of dance. The program is grounded in oneon-one mentoring by a diverse faculty of experienced, practicing artists and scholars. Faculty have danced professionally with internationally recognized companies and encourage students to explore a range of performance contexts, from the commercial industry to the experimental realm, and to understand the sociopolitical context of each endeavor. You will also be exposed to a range of internationally renowned artists working in dance and performance, and regularly benefit from choreographic residencies and performance workshops.

FOUR-YEAR BFA

PR OG RA M IN

CHOREO GR AP

HY

The internationally recognized MFA Program in Choreography at CalArts is designed for experienced dance artists who want to further develop their choreographic practice and artistry in order to pursue professional careers in a range of dance-based trajectories—from choreography to education to performance curation and dramaturgy.

Choreography at CalArts is broadly construed, and you as an MFA student will be encouraged to experiment with content and present work in a variety of contexts. From choreographic residencies to performance workshops with internationally renowned artists working in dance and performance, you will collaborate closely with contemporary choreographers working to expand the notion of dance itself. In addition to a flexible schedule of daily technique classes in ballet, contemporary, hip-hop, and more, there are ample opportunities for production and collaboration both within CalArts Dance and across the Institute. You will take courses in composition, technique, theory, and history, and the curriculum is crafted to encourage you to refine a personal aesthetic in dance and related disciplines. You will ultimately become well-versed in the organizing concepts of choreography and dance theory while meeting the practical demands of producing work.

All Choreography faculty members are noted professionals actively working in the field of dance and performance.

Their wealth of professional experience will provide you with a realistic perspective of the artistic and professional challenges of careers in dance and academia. You will benefit from a program grounded in individualized mentorship, as you will be paired with a faculty member who serves as your artistic and academic mentor throughout your course of study.

TWO-YEAR MFA

Winter Dance performance at MAK Center for Art and Architecture, the Schindler House (Photo: Jamie Connolly).

CalArts dancers performing on the Mobile Floor, with guest artist Emmanuelle Huynh.

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BOTTOM IMAGE:

Site-specific BFA solo (Photo: Josh S. Rose).

FACULTY ERNEST FELTON BAKER CRISTINA BENEDETTI TUIXEN BENET JULIE BOUR AJANI BRANNUM DIMITRI CHAMBLAS JOSEPH DAVIS BRIGETTE DUNN-KORPELA GLEN EDDY HOLLEY FARMER RANDI FREITAS ROSANNA GAMSON LILIA LOPEZ CHERYL MANN DEL CUORE EDGAR MIRAMONTES ARIEL OSTERWEIS EVAN ROSENBLATT JUSTIN CLARK (J.C.) SCHEID ZOE SCOFIELD YUSHA-MARIE SORZANO ROSANNA TAVAREZ SAMUEL WENTZ MIRANDA WRIGHT

VISITING ARTISTS KYLE ABRAHAM TONY BASIL SIDRA BELL JOE BROWN TRISHA BROWN DONALD BYRD (LA) HORDE REBECCA LEMME CIHTLI OCAMPO ZOE SCOFIELD YUSHA-MARIE SORZANO ROSANNA TAVAREZ RICH + TONE STEPHANIE ZALETEL

ALUMNX

GARY ABBOTT RACHEL ABRAHAMS LUCIANA ACHUGAR KARL ANDERSON CRYSTALDAWN BELL ELLA BEN-AHARON MELISSA BOURKAS NICK BRUDER DONALD BYRD AMANDA CASTRO DANIEL CHARON BRYN COHN ARIANA DAUB NORMA FONG JONATHAN FREDRICKSON FRIT FULLER FRAT FULLER WANDA GALA LEO GALLO JESSICA GAYNOR LEVI GONZALEZ ASHLEY HANDEL AMANDA HART WINIFRED HARRIS MARIA HASSABI JACQUES HEIM ALICE HOLLAND JADE HOOPER ANTOINE HUNTER SAHAR JAVEDANI MARY ANN KELLOGG ALONZO KING MIN LI REBECCA LEVY LINDSEY LOLLIE ARIANNE MACBEAN ERIKA MAROSI RYAN MASON DALLAS MCMURRAY NYCOLE MERRITT MERSIHA MESIHOVIC LAURA GORENSTEIN MILLER NIKKI PFEIFFER JULIA ROMANSKAYA DAWN STOPPIELLO MICHAEL TOMLIN III KRISTI TORNGA LISA TOWNSEND JOSE TRUJILLO JORDON WATERS KATE WEARE ANDREW WOJTEL WANG YUANYUAN

CALARTS SCHOOL OF DANCE acknowledges a history of injustice, inequality, and violence that affects all aspects of society, including institutions of higher education and the arts, and commits to anti-racist pedagogy, and art-making to ensure justice, equality, and safety for all members of its community. To hold ourselves accountable, we are dedicated to further educating ourselves, insisting on diversifying the cultural and racial population of our faculty, staff, and student body, and continuing to fight systemic racism in our programs. We will ensure that every member of the School of Dance is recognized and heard, with the intention of change through consistent implementation of procedural, antiracist actions.

BACK PAGE:

BFA dancers (Photo: Josh S. Rose).

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