ROLE CALL: College Admissions for Dancers™

George Mason University

Description of Program: The School of Dance at George Mason University, located close to the nation’s capital, is a highly selective program focused on modern dance performance and choreography. All prospective students must audition, and outstanding candidates are considered for talent scholarships. There are 80 undergraduate dance majors, and only a limited number of talented freshmen are admitted each year.

Performance opportunities abound at George Mason. The school produces five annual concerts, plus numerous choreographic showcases, providing students with more than 20 performing opportunities each year. Venues include the university’s 2,000-seat Center for the Arts Concert Hall, the 1,100-seat Hylton Performing Arts Center, the 500-seat Harris Theater, and a dance performance studio.

All classes are taught in the newly expanded performing-arts building containing spacious light-filled studios, a conditioning lab/wellness center for dancers, and other support facilities. The School of Dance athletic trainer is a full-time resource for majors. Accompanists from a staff of nine outstanding musicians play for each class. Eight full-time faculty members with extensive professional careers bring a progressive vision to the rigorous curriculum of studio and theoretical study. They are joined by 15 additional dance specialists who teach each year. The contemporary performance repertoire of George Mason dancers is kept alive through a successful long-standing guest-artist residency program.

Most recently, students have performed the work of Alejandro Cerrudo, Camille A. Brown, Hope Boykin, Mark Morris, Ohad Naharin, Stephen Petronio, David Parsons, Doug Varone, Lar Lubovitch, Nacho Duato, Ulysses Dove, Robert Battle, and Kyle Abraham. Dance majors at George Mason enjoy the many performances presented by professional dance companies in the Washington metropolitan area. All the artists who perform on campus at the Center for the Arts also direct master classes, give lectures, and conduct discussions in the school. Recent dance performances on campus have included the companies of Doug Varone and Dancers, Camille A. Brown, Momix, Lar Lubovitch, Mark Morris, Alonzo King LINES, David Parsons, Spectrum Dance Theater, and The Joffrey Ballet.

Graduates of the dance degree programs at George Mason are professional performers, choreographers, dance educators, health practitioners, and arts managers. You might meet a Mason dance alum on tour with Mark Morris Dance Group, Ballet Jazz de Montréal, and Elizabeth Streb, or presenting choreography in New York City, Minneapolis, or Montreal.