DANCE

CORNISH.

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EMAIL: admission@cornish.edu

PHONE: 206.726.5016 or 800.726.ARTS

FAX: 206.720.1011

MAIL: 1000 Lenora St., Seattle WA 98121

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EQUAL OPPORTUNITY Cornish College of the Arts does not discriminate in education or employ ment on the basis of: gender, race, national origin, religion, age, marital status, sexual orientation, disability or veteran status. This policy is consistent with relevant federal regulations and statutes, including those pursuant to Title IX of the Education Amendments of 1972, Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973 and the Americans with Disabilities Act. Questions regarding the application of this policy and information on services for disabled persons may be referred to the Dean of Student Affairs or the Director of Human Resources.

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For more inFormation about the Dance

Department, incluDing Faculty biographies

anD perFormance viDeos, please visit us at

www.cornish.eDu/Dance.

DANCE

The Cornish Dance program offers a holistic

educational focus that addresses the heart

and mind as well as the body. We give you

the tools to create a sustainable life in dance:

strong technique, choreographic voice and

teaching experience.

You not only learn proficient dance technique

and choreographic craft at Cornish — you

also define your personal artistic interests

and direction and develop an entrepeneurial

approach to your career. These wide-ranging

skills remain with you for the rest of your

professional life.

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DANCE DEPARTMENT LIFE

The Cornish Dance Department provides a

stimulating and nurturing environment that

supports your technical, creative and intel-

lectual development while preparing you for a

broad range of professional careers in dance.

Cornish faculty are professionals who “do”

as well as teach. They know what it takes to

succeed in dance and are eager to share

their knowledge with you. In our small classes,

faculty members are able to oversee students’

progress on a day-to-day basis, becoming

professional mentors.

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You join a community of students committed

to becoming professional dancers who

want to eat, think, sleep and dream dance.

Our department atmosphere is warm and

supportive, with students drawing inspiration

from one another

We emphasize training healthy dancers who

have both the self-confidence to enter a

challenging field and the physical under-

standing that leads to professional longevity.

Our Dance Wellness program includes

conditioning exercises to prevent injuries

and on-campus physical therapy.

“ThE ENTIRE CoRNIsh ExPERIENCE—FACuLTy, LoCATIoN

AND PEERs—PRovIDEs sTuDENTs wITh AN INCREDIbLy

vAsT wEALTh oF kNowLEDgE ThAT guIDEs us ALoNg

A PATh oF ARTIsTIC DIsCovERy AND gRowTh.”

— REBECCA gREEN, DA ‘13

DANCE CuRRICuLuM

Your Cornish coursework includes challeng-

ing classes that broaden and deepen your

understanding of dance. You spend six to

eight hours each day in dance courses, with at

least 16 hours of technique classes per week.

Daily ballet and modern dance classes form

the core of our technique curriculum with

elective courses offered in pointe, partnering,

men’s technique, jazz, hip hop, tap, world

dance, vocal skills, martial arts, conditioning

and somatic techniques. We teach you how

to make the most of your physical potential

by emphasizing anatomically-sound

technique and providing courses in anatomy

and injury prevention.

Our curriculum places equal emphasis on

physical mastery and creative expression.

A three-year sequence of courses in

choreography and improvisation develops

your knowledge of choreographic craft and

fosters the development of your personal

voice. You learn to create dance films, using

digital technology to blend movement with

video and sound.

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Courses in teaching methods, stage

production, and dance business practices

(concert production, grant writing and

fundraising) expand your career opportunities.

You can gain international experience

through a study abroad program in your

junior year.

“EvERy DAy I AM IMMERsED IN A CoMMuNITy oF CoNsTANT

suPPoRT, ChALLENgINg MysELF To PRACTICE DIsCIPLINE,

PATIENCE AND ARTIsTRy. I AM PushED INTELLECTuALLy,

EMoTIoNALLy AND PhysICALLy, gRADuALLy bECoMINg ThE

DANCER I AsPIRE To bE.”

— ARiANA bIRD, DA ‘14

Your BFA program culminates in a senior

project developed under faculty guidance.

Most often this involves choreography and

a performance open to the public.

DANCE PERFoRMANCE & ChoREogRAPhIC oPPoRTuNITIEs

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Extraordinary performance opportunities

complement your intensive class work.

Cornish Dance Theater, the department’s

performing ensemble, presents a concert

each semester with choreography by faculty

and professional visiting choreographers.

CDT’s diverse repertory includes ballet,

modern and jazz dances as well as stagings

of historic masterworks. Recent guest

choreographers have included Robert Battle,

Camille Brown, Bill Evans, Jason Ohlberg,

Olivier Wevers and Daniel Cruz. CDT also

performs site specific dances in cultural

venues and environments around Seattle.

“IN CoRNIsh DANCE ThEATER I hAvE PERFoRMED A vARIETy

oF sTyLEs IN A PRoFEssIoNAL REhEARsAL ENvIRoNMENT.”

— SAm oPsAL, DA ’14

You have many opportunities to explore your

own creative vision through student

choreographed productions. Our annual

New Moves and BFA Senior Project concerts

present student choreography and provide

additional performance opportunities.

You can collaborate with students from other

artistic disciplines on creative projects, both in

live performances and screen works that use

digital technology to blend dance with video

and sound. You can also perform in inter-

departmental productions such as musicals.

DANCEFACuLTy & vIsITINg ARTIsTs

At Cornish College of the Arts, the faculty are

practicing artists who are devoted to their

students’ progress. With professional

backgrounds in all areas of dance (perfor-

mance, choreography, teaching, dance

science, somatic techniques and more), they

know what it takes to succeed in dance and

are eager to share their knowledge with you.

Acting as mentors, your teachers will help you

to discover and pursue your own dance path.

Our Dance Department is headed by Kathryn

“Kitty” Daniels, who is nationally known as

a teacher of ballet and dance science. Core

faculty include Iyun Harrison, Pat Hon, Wade

Madsen, Lodi McClellan, Michelle Miller,

and Deborah Wolf.

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“I AM INsPIRED DAILy by My FACuLTy CoLLEAguEs AND

sTuDENTs To DIsCovER NEw wAys To CoMMuNICATE

CoNCEPTs, uNvEILINg ThE MAxIMuM PoTENTIAL oF

EACh oF My sTuDENTs.”

— miChElE MILLER, AssoCIATE PRoFEssoR

Classes with visiting artists enhance the

curriculum and expose dancers to different

aesthetic perspectives. The Dance Department

sponsors visiting artist residencies and master

classes each year with some of the nation’s

leading dance artists, including Donald

McKayle, Danny Buraczeski, Danielle Agami,

Donald Byrd, Bebe Miller, Summer Rhatigan,

Tina Fehlandt, Keith Terry, Rhonda Miller and

Lynn Simonson.

DANCELAuNChINg youR CAREER

Our holistic approach and broad professional

training prepare you for success as a

performer, choreographer and teacher, as

well as related fields such as body therapies,

conditioning techniques (including Pilates

and Gyrotonic), arts administration and stage

production. Our alumni are especially

successful in creating opportunities by forming

their own companies and exploring collab-

orative and cross-disciplinary interests.

Dance Department graduates and former

students have performed with prominent

companies including the Merce Cunningham,

Trisha Brown, Bill T. Jones/Arnie Zane, Mark

Morris, and Shen Wei dance companies.

They have produced their choreography at

Seattle’s On the Boards, New York’s Live Arts

and other centers for innovation. Numerous

Seattle dance companies were founded by

Cornish dance alumni.

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“CoRNIsh hAs gIvEN ME ThE skILL sET To CREATE A LIFE

IN ThE ARTs As wELL As ThE REsoLvE AND sELF-CoNFI-

DENCE To PuRsuE ANy MovEMENT CAREER I ChoosE.”

— JolENE wINNER-ZIEMER, DA ’12

Our alumni have succeeded in graduate

studies at such respected programs as Ohio

State University, University of Utah, and

University of California/Irvine. They have

gone on to teach in a variety of settings from

colleges to professional and private studios.

DANCEsEATTLE

At Cornish your education isn’t limited to the

classroom. In Seattle, a city which leads the

Pacific Northwest in artistic innovation in

dance, you find a vibrant arts community.

You are in the center of this flourishing

environment, with many of Seattle’s leading

dance professionals on our faculty.

As a student at Cornish, you use the profes-

sional dance community as your classroom:

attending performances, performing works

by leading choreographers, and presenting

your choreography on professional showcases.

You learn to network with professionals to

develop your career.

Cornish Dance Theater performs Alia Swersky’s

Beneath Our Own Immensity in Seattle’s I-5 Colonnade Park

“IN sEATTLE, I AM ExPosED To ART IN ALL ITs FoRMs.

CoNsTANTLy LookINg AT PRoFEssIoNAL ARTIsTs’ woRk

hELPs ME DIsCovER whAT I LIkE, whAT INsPIREs ME,

AND ThE DIRECTIoN I wANT To TAkE My CAREER.”

— oRAlEE skEATh, DA ‘15

Touring companies such as the Mark Morris

Dance Group, Hubbard Street Dance Chicago,

Alonzo King/LINES, Kidd Pivot, Compania

Nacional de Danza, and Alvin Ailey American

Dance Theater teach master classes at

Cornish, enhancing your global professional

connections. In your senior year, you are

invited to pursue internships with Seattle

dance organizations, facilitating your transition

from student to professional dancer.

You explore the full range of your creative

interests by taking courses in the other

Cornish artistic disciplines. From acting and

singing to web design and photography, you

will expand your artistic knowledge while

fulfilling your Arts Electives degree requirement.

Interdepartmental courses such as the Inter-

disciplinary Arts Workshop allow you to create

cross-disciplinary projects, while courses in

community arts practices give you the tools

to make a difference in the world with your

art. Through experiences such as these you

meet other artists of your generation, forming

artistic partnerships that will last a lifetime.

DANCEbEyoND youR MAjoR

Cornish Dance Theater performs Merce Cunningham’s

MinEvent in Cornish Main Gallery. Photo: Michelle Smith-Lewis

“AT CoRNIsh, I’vE FouND ThAT MANy sTuDENTs FRoM

oThER DEPARTMENTs ARE EAgER To CoLLAboRATE.

whEThER I’M INTEREsTED IN woRkINg wITh A PAINTER,

sCuLPToR, ACToR, oR CoMPosER, ThE oPPoRTuNITIEs

ARE ALwAys ThERE.”

— oRAlEE skEATh, DA ‘15

Since graduating from Cornish in 1999,

Corrie Befort has been performing and choreo-

graphing for stage and screen internationally.

Commissioned by companies, schools and

dancers, she has become known for rigorous

collaborations. Co-director of the Seattle-

based dance/sound/visual theater company

Salt Horse, her work has toured the United

States and Japan, while her film-work has

received awards in the United States and

Europe. She has performed with Scott/Powell

Performance, Sheri Cohen Ensemble and

Natsuko Tezuka among others. Corrie also

teaches in the Puget Sound area Dance for

Parkinsons Program, developed by the Mark

Morris Dance Group.

DANCE AlUmNA CoRRIE bEFoRT

“I AM so gRATEFuL FoR ThE

RIgoRous, ATTENTIvE TEChNIquE

AND ExPANsIvE sTuDy My CoRNIsh

TEAChERs oFFERED—boTh

ChALLENgE AND EMPowERMENT

To bLAZE My owN wAy INTo A

LIFE oF DANCINg.”

— CoRRiE bEFoRT, DA ‘99

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HUMANITIES & SCIENCES LIBERAL STUDIES LEARNINg AND THE BFA DEgREE

An essential component of your BFA degree

includes the courses you will take outside of

your major in the Humanities and Sciences

Department. As the general education division

of the College, we provide a liberal studies

curriculum that engages Cornish students in

an exploration of the social, environmental

and cultural contexts in which artistic

production takes place, while developing

critical thinking, problem-solving and com-

munication skills. The curriculum helps you

consider multiple perspectives when looking

at complex problems and issues, drawing

on a variety of ways to understand the world

and our human experience.

Our curriculum is constantly changing and

inquiry based. It is intended to engage you in

active analysis and problem-solving in relation

to thematic issues that may have a long-

standing history, but that continue to challenge

contemporary societies and individuals, both

locally and globally. Classes are limited in size

and conducted “seminar style.” Students at

Cornish are not passive learners; they

contribute to and help shape the experience

in their classes. Many classes go into the

community, exploring the urban and natural

environment, doing field observations and

visiting local organizations and the people

involved in them.

Both in and out of the classroom, instructors

in Humanities and Sciences help you acquire

the kind of confidence and competence that

will serve you well both during and after college,

in your personal and professional lives. In the

end, our aim in Humanities and Sciences is

to inspire the curiosity and habits necessary

for life-long learning and development.