The Dance Division, founded in 1954 by Tatiana Dokoudovska maintains a 54 year tradition of excellence in dance with its artistic and educational leadership. The Dance Division is committed to performance excellence through specialized training in dance technique, theory, and choreography while providing the student a liberal arts experience. The program fosters learning and creativity while preparing graduates for work in the professional world as performers, teachers, and choreographer as well as providing them with a broad-based background in the humanities in preparation for advanced graduate study.
Intellectual and artistic growth is the primary focus of the Dance Division and is perpetuated by the program in a disciplined and nurturing environment. The education of students is enhanced by a strong foundation in ballet, modern dance, and choreography, diverse performance opportunities, professional liaisons with nationally recognized dance organizations, and release time for professional engagements. Individual artistry is nurtured by each faculty member creating a learning experience that is challenging, stimulating, and disciplined. The B.F.A. degree fosters discovery, creativity, and learning at the highest caliber preparing students for a professional career in dance.
Teaching excellence is the cornerstone of the Dance Division and as the faculty remains active professionally as performers and choreographers liaisons with professional companies and arts organizations have been established. Professional connections provide our students performance opportunities, foster artistic growth, and expose students to artists of national and international renown. A few examples of mutually beneficial Conservatory Dance Division partnerships are the Kansas City Ballet, Kansas City Friends of Alvin Ailey, Wylliams/Henry Contemporary Dance Company, the Albany Berkshire Ballet, Kansas Regional Ballet, the Lyric Opera of Kansas City, the Kansas City Symphony, and the Kansas City Repertory Theatre. The traditional focus remains on performance and choreography for the faculty through their professional activity, and for students through the curriculum. Faculty expectations are high, and these translate into rigorous degree program requirements both in training and academic components of the curriculum.
The B.F.A. degree in dance is a four-year professional training program in performance with an equal emphasis in ballet and modern dance technique. Students train daily in both techniques. Additional coursework in performance techniques, jazz, men's and women's variations, men's class, pas de deux, improvisation, choreography, production, dance history, dance notation, company, and movement analysis are required within a Liberal Arts framework. The Dance Division's existing curriculum provides students with a state of the art education and an individualized course of study to suit their own professional dance needs and career goals. The quality of education is reflected in the many fine artists who have gone on to professional careers and affiliations with such major companies as Milwaukee Ballet, Kansas City Ballet, Martha Graham Dance Company, Alvin Ailey Dance Company, Paul Taylor II, Alberta Ballet, Dayton Ballet, Dayton Contemporary Dance Company, Urban Bush Women, Garth Fagan Dance, Wylliams/Henry Contemporary Dance Company, Cleo Parker Robinson, and Albany Berkshire Ballet. Other graduates have gone on to professions in musical theater, film, television, dance therapy, arts administration, and teaching at colleges and universities, professional schools, in public education around the nation.
