Specific Admissions and Transfer Requirements

A. Admissions Requirements

Admission to the School is based on talent and potential (as assessed in an audition before the arts faculty), academic transcripts, and test scores. All new college students enter as first-year students; the School of Dance does not accept credit for dance courses taken at other institutions. Transfer credit for academic courses will be considered by the Division of Liberal Arts (DLA). Please see the DLA section of the bulletin.

B. Required Physical and Mental Abilities

A student must demonstrate adherence to professional ethics and integrity necessary to work in a collaborative environment. Emotional stability, responsibility, and ethical performance of all assigned duties are necessary to succeed in the program. A successful dance student must be able to recognize when the support of professionals is necessary to maintain psychological and physical health.

Equally important, the student must be able to sustain a high level of physically challenging movement sequences for extended periods of time and execute a full range of body movements and elements of dance (including but not limited to, turning, jumping, balancing, falling, stretching, lifting, flexing and running) while responding to musical and visual cues. In addition, a student must be able to:

• View and reproduce sequences of classroom exercises and complicated choreography which requires specific movements for the head, arms, hands, torso, legs and feet.
• Demonstrate the ability to work precisely with live and recorded music.
• Respond appropriately to verbal instructions and warnings to ensure the safety of the student and his/her fellow dancers.
• Physically participate in solo, duet and group work that may include lifting and manipulating his or her own body, or that of another dancer, many times above the top of one’s head.
• Maintain a healthy, toned and energized physique, one conducive to achieving the aesthetics necessary to express the art form through his/her body.

C. Class Placement

Ballet students are placed by the faculty at the beginning of each academic year into one of eight levels:

• BL1 through BL6 – (BL stands for “Ballet Ladies”)
• BG1 or BG2 – (BG stands for “Ballet Gentlemen”)
• Levels are determined by age and technical proficiency.

All new Contemporary Dance students upon entering the program are placed into the M1 level for technique, composition, partnering and repertory (M stands for “Modern”) and normally advance each year through four levels (M1 through M4). Contemporary majors’ level placement for their ballet technique class is determined through audition. Special consideration for entry-level placement may be given to students transferring from the Ballet Concentration. 

To receive the Bachelor of Fine Arts or Undergraduate Arts Certificate, students must be enrolled and actively participate in the program for a minimum of three years. Upon petition, consideration may be given on an individual basis for advanced standing in select dance courses for:

•  UNCSA high school graduates who enroll in the UNCSA college program
• Students entering their fourth year of college at UNCSA who present evidence of contracted, professional employment as a dance performer with a reputable organization.

The contract must show that the employment will deliver an experience equal to the coursework for which advanced placement would be given.

The School of Dance Faculty and the Dean will consider the petition relative to said experience and coursework.

D. Adherence to Policies

At the beginning of the academic year, each student must sign a form indicating that they have read the Student Handbook and agree to abide by the School of Dance Policies.