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dancer with outsretched arms
Image by Ben McKeown.

About

You don’t have to give up dance in order to pursue a rigorous academic degree! At Duke you can get high-quality dance training and a first class science or liberal arts education from one of the country’s top research universities.

Dance at Duke encourages the total union of our physical, intellectual, and expressive capabilities. The student dancer develops skills of perception, analysis and expression that benefit many fields of endeavor beyond the dance world.

The Program in Dance provides a wide choice of classes for everyone from the highly trained dance technician to the absolute beginner. Beyond the three main areas of emphasis in ballet, modern, and African dance, other courses including jazz, swing dance, floor-barre, tap, Flamenco and classical Indian dance are offered on a rotating schedule. Extensive full credit courses include areas of study in history, choreography, kinesiology, world dance cultures and dance writing. Housed in Duke’s new Rubenstein Arts Center, the program offers state-of-the-art studios and performance spaces.

There are many performing opportunities for students of all levels, working with faculty, guest artists and student choreographers. All students on campus are enriched by an abundance of professional touring productions and in-house concerts.

A masterclass with Colin Conner in the Rubenstein Arts Center. Photo by Alec Himwich.

Undergraduate Major or Minor

Dance