The Ohio State University Department of Dance

BFA Program

BFA Program

The Ohio State University BFA in Dance provides a comprehensive education across the field of contemporary dance with a core focus on the dancing experience. To that end, students are offered a solid foundation during their first two years of study in the following curricular areas: movement practice, performance, choreography, dance analysis, pedagogy, history, kinesiology, production and creative technologies. Expanding upon this foundation, students are afforded the opportunity to focus on individual areas of interest supported by mentoring and interaction with faculty mentors.

The program encourages integration of curricular areas, supports an interdisciplinary approach, promotes the education of the whole person, values cultural and curricular diversity, responds to the individual needs of students, and reflects faculty research, the dance field, and our broader culture. Students leave the program with the skills, perspective and imagination to be visionaries, advocates, and leaders in the field of dance and in their communities.

Defined by a varied and dynamic blend of physical practice, creative practice and embodied theory, The BFA trains students to: 

  • Both deepen and broaden physical training;
  • Develop choreographic skills, explore experimental technologies (IM, Video, Dance Theatre), in service to becoming sophisticated and nuanced artists in general;
  • Cultivate an understanding between performance and culturally inclusive and critically rigorous pedagogy;
  • Deepen and expand one’s understanding of the art and practice of performance (via formal and informal performances, in-progress showings, scholarly lectures etc.);
  • Become an arts activist, arts educator and advocate;
  • And to develop scholarly expertise and sophistication in culture and the arts in general.  

Please see our BFA Dance Checklist that students use to track their course progress to graduation, alongside other university resources, advising staff, and faculty mentors. 

Our BFA students share their journeys through our program on their E-Portfolio blogs. 

Our A Day in the Life video shares a typical day as a student in the BFA in Dance program.