How do I help my D decide whether to apply for Dance or Theatre?

KatMT
Tue, 02 Jul 2013 09:41:52 +0000

As a theatre student at James Madison your D could take dance… even minor in it. As a dance student she could take theatre classes… even minor in it. The performance crossover opportunities are a little trickier. Dance program performance opportunities are only for those students concentrating in dance. There are a number of dance clubs on campus that allow non-dance majors the opportunity to perform. Theatre auditions are open, but performances and rehearsals can be difficult for dancers to manage around the dance performance commitments.

At JMU most of the students in the MT program are involved in both plays and musicals. Some consider themselves mostly MT performers, but most consider themselves singing and dancing actors. The more skills developed the more opportunity for work post graduation.

We have accepted dancers into the MT program who are slightly weaker singers. Over the four years they develop into much stronger singers.

I only mention James Madison because it is about 20,000 students, provides a university experience, allows applicants to audition for multiple programs (occasionally we see applicants audition for all three programs), and is only about 2 hours from DC.