| DEGREE PROGRAMS |
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 Master of Fine Arts in Dance
The Department is launching a new MFA program in September 2009, one that will fully exploit current faculty expertise across a range of dance practices and theories, while capitalizing on recent artistic and pedagogic developments both within dance and beyond, particularly in the areas of interdisciplinary research and multi-media performance. Just as before, the Department enjoys a unique position as a provider of world-class conservatory training within a major research university.
At this stage we envisage specialist pathways in
Performance, Choreography, and Dance and Related Media. Students will choose one of these pathways, supported by subsidiary courses in dance history, experiential anatomy, music, teaching methods, and world dance. Underpinning the learning of all MFA dance students will be a two-year compulsory core, Research in Action, which will require students to continually apply appropriate theory to their studio practice. The course will include monthly symposia in which both students and faculty participate, sharing their research questions and/or findings. The new MFA program will culminate in a thesis project linked to the chosen specialist pathway, the performative element and weighting determined in consultation with the individual student’s thesis committee.
Our new program is aimed at outstanding recent dance graduates as well as returning professionals, most particularly those seeking to move from successful careers at a national/international level in performance and/or choreography to working in higher education.
Our MFA program is small in terms of student numbers and this enables us to offer our graduate students dedicated studio investigation time; a pool of trained and disciplined dancers to work with; critical peer, faculty and guest artist feedback; on-going mentorship; and the many rich resources of a premiere research institution. The University of Michigan affords the opportunity for collaboration with composers, set and costume designers, playwrights and poets, photographers, and film/video makers. Specialist facilities beyond the Dance Building include the Bentley Historical Library, Duderstadt Video Studio, Harlan Hatcher Graduate Library and our own book and DVD collection in the School of Music, Theatre and Dance library. Dance department faculty and students are regularly engaged in co-sponsored projects and courses with, for example, the Center for Afroamerican and African Studies (CAAS); the Center for South Asian Studies (CSAS); the Center for World Performance Studies (CWPS); and the Institute for Research on Women and Gender.
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