Department of Dance

Dance
Dance education is aimed at fostering all aspects of human development: social, physical, intellectual, and emotional. The dance curriculum is structured to stimulate creativity, increase awareness and mastery of the body, challenge the intellect, and increase opportunities for social interaction. Career opportunities in dance include teaching, dance therapy, dance historian or critic, performance, and choreography. The dance facilities are located in Hinkhouse Center. There are two spacious dance studios with sprung floors, mirrors, and ballet barres. Students have access to the temperature-controlled studios seven days per week. Student dance performances are given in both the Haidee and Allen Wild Center for the Arts and Hinkhouse Center.

The dance department at Cottey College is committed to teaching, producing, and presenting dance with the highest aesthetic standards in order to introduce its students and audiences to dance’s artistic and educational value.

To achieve its mission the dance department:

• Provides high quality technique instruction in Ballet, Modern, Jazz, Improvisation, Tap, and Musical Theater Dance.
  
• Offers theory courses for any interested Cottey student in Dance History and Dance Appreciation, providing more conceptual and philosophical approaches to dance.
  
• Offers a chance to teach children and earn Service Learning credit through the Creative Movement for Children course.
  
• Offers a Choreography course for the more serious dance students.
  
• Sponsors BodyWorks, the dance student organization. The organization is in place to provide a venue for dance interests of the Cottey student body. Past events have included Dance Showcases (in which any Cottey student may perform), a Belly Dance night, Swing, Hip-Hop, and Salsa lessons, and a Ballroom Dance.
  
• Offers students the opportunity to audition for the Cottey Repertory Dance Company, whose members learn and perform choreography by faculty, students, and guest artists. The Company usually performs two to three times a semester.
  
• Offers performance opportunities for Cottey students in Dance Showcases once or twice a year (open to any Cottey student), Informal Dance Concerts once a semester (performances by students enrolled in dance technique classes), and a Formal Dance Concert once a year (performances by the Cottey Repertory Dance Company).
  

Dance Facilities
The dance department is located in Hinkhouse Gymnasium which is the home to the physical education department, dance department, and student life programs. Students study dance in our two beautiful dance studios. Each studio is climate-controlled with sprung floors and floor-to-ceiling mirrors. Each studio is equipped with sound playback units and student rehearsal CD players. Our dancers have access to the studios from 6 a.m. to midnight seven days a week. Students study dance theory in a smart classroom in Hinkhouse. Our dancers are able to swim in our pool or work out in our fully equipped weight room. Our spacious gymnasium is open for recreation during open gym hours throughout the week. Performances are given in both Hinkhouse Gymnasium and the Auditorium of the Haidee and Allen Wild Center for the Arts (495-seat auditorium with state-of-the-art sound and light systems).

Faculty

• Professor Jo Byrnes



• Adjunct professor Christi Reeder

Course Descriptions

The Cottey Repertory Dance Company

News, Announcements and Opportunities

Fields of Study in Dance