Dance

Undergraduate

As a Dance Major at Mount Holyoke College, you will explore the broad, rich field of dance with faculty mentors who help you identify your unique path through a curriculum designed to prepare you for a life in the arts. You will experience rigorous technique courses in multiple and diverse dance forms and explore performance, making, music and theory. Through creative, embodied research, you will synthesize your MHC liberal arts experience with your Dance Major. Your degree will lead to career opportunities specific to the dance field as performer, choreographer, dance company director, and teacher, and, as we have seen in past Dance graduates, can extend to work further afield such as writer, filmmaker, doctor, lawyer, and arts leader.

Dancers from our program develop the skills to succeed at MHC and engage with the world beyond the College. They exemplify the qualities that come from being a dancer: creative problem solving, critical and abstract thinking, effective collaboration, self-directed communication, and disciplined professionalism. They retain knowledge with attention to detail, learning along the way that mistakes are a valuable part of becoming a dancer and then finding ways to improve and grow. They welcome challenges and demonstrate levity and resilience far beyond the training of many other fields. All these aspects, combined with embodied knowledge become lived experiences and readiness for a career in the field.

Montage of Dance events from 2025

Program Overview

The Dance Department inspires students to become impressive dancers, creative makers, critical and abstract thinkers, problem solvers, collaborators, effective communicators and affecting artists. Areas of study include performance, choreography, historical and cultural contexts, rhythmic analysis and scientific foundations. Studio courses include modern dance, ballet, street dance and West African dance.

With an interdisciplinary approach to teaching and learning, Dance faculty share their expertise in our studios, classrooms and performance spaces. They are creative collaborators who mentor each student to define their own unique research trajectory. Multiple performance opportunities are available each semester at Mount Holyoke and with our partners in Five College Dance.

Five College Dance

The Five College Dance department is one of the largest dance departments in the country, combining the programs of Amherst, Hampshire, Mount Holyoke and Smith Colleges and the University of Massachusetts at Amherst. The faculty meet to coordinate curricula, course scheduling, performances, and other services. Five College Dance supports a variety of philosophical approaches to dance and provides an opportunity for you to experience a wide spectrum of performance styles and techniques. Course offerings are coordinated among the campuses to facilitate registration, interchange and travel; you may take a dance course on any of the five campuses and receive credit.

Upcoming Events

Community Voices

Spotlight on Dance students and alums

Molly Brown ’25

she/her

Lila Reid ’15 MFA Candidate in Dance

Selecting courses in your first year

Technique Courses: As a first year student you may enroll in dance technique courses at your appropriate level for the particular form (ballet, modern, street dance, West African, etc.), beginning (100's) or intermediate (200's), but you must audition at the start of the fall semester for placement in advanced technique courses (300's). It is recommended that anyone majoring or minoring in Dance enroll in technique courses every semester.

Theory & Context: Majors and minors should also plan to enroll in the following theory and context courses early in their Dance studies: Elementary Composition, Dance History, and Music for Dance.

Courses and Requirements

Learning Goals

Technique and Practice

  • Students will develop fluency in multiple dance forms through rigorous physical practice, refining familiar techniques, and taking risks in unfamiliar areas. 

Context and Perspective

  • Students will integrate varied worldwide perspectives with their embodied experience to expand their knowledge and identify synergy across disciplines. 

Research and Scholarship 

  • Students will articulate and pursue questions through creative and scholarly research methods, building a foundation for academic discovery as artist-practitioners. 

Collaboration

  • Students will collaborate as co-creators in faculty choreography, as dancers engaging directly with live music in technique classes, and as creative partners in the work of their peers. 

Composition and Performance 

  • Students will create choreography, perform original dance works by acclaimed artists and faculty, and critically engage in creative process as producers, directors, and performers. 

Contact Us

The Dance Department is renowned for its faculty’s dedication to collaborative, embodied learning, as well as its extensive studio offerings and performance opportunities in ballet, modern, street dance and West African dance.

  • Kendall Sports & Dance Complex

Next Steps

Apply to Mount Holyoke

Mount Holyoke seeks intellectually curious applicants who understand the value of a liberal arts education and are driven by a love of learning. As a women's college that is gender diverse, we welcome applications from female, trans and non-binary students.

Financing your education

Everyone’s financial situation is unique, and we’re here to make sure cost does not get in the way of an exceptional education.