Dance at Alfred University is about more than movement — it’s about discovering new ways to express yourself, connect with others, and understand the world around you. In a close-knit and supportive environment, students are encouraged to explore boldly, collaborate across disciplines, and grow as artists and people through performance, creativity, and shared experience.
The BFA in Dance at Alfred University is a collaborative, interdisciplinary program that prepares students to grow as performers, choreographers, creative thinkers, and artists. Through hands-on training, performance opportunities, somatics, creative exploration, and close mentorship from faculty, students study dance technique, composition, improvisation, and movement practices while collaborating across music, theatre, sound studies, and performance design and technology. Students also regularly work with visiting guest artists through residencies, workshops, performances, and masterclasses, gaining valuable insight from professionals actively working in the field while developing their own artistic voice in a supportive and creative community.
Courses for the Dance BFA are listed in our digital Undergraduate Catalog.
The Dance Double Major at Alfred University allows students to combine their passion for dance with another area of study while remaining deeply engaged in performance, creativity, and artistic exploration. Through training in technique, composition, somatics, improvisation, and performance, students collaborate across theatre, music, sound studies, and performance design and technology while working closely with faculty mentors and visiting guest artists. Designed for students with wide-ranging interests, the program encourages students to build a unique path that connects their passions, creativity, and academic goals into a meaningful future and career.
Dance as a double major is available to any AU student.
Learn More About Double Majors
Courses for the Dance Double Major are listed in our digital Undergraduate Catalog.
The Dance Minor at Alfred University gives students the opportunity to stay connected to movement, creativity, and performance while pursuing any major across the university. Whether students have years of experience or simply want dance to remain part of their lives, the minor offers flexible ways to engage through technique, somatics, improvisation, composition, performance, and interdisciplinary collaboration. It is also a space to connect more deeply with your creative self, discover new ways of expressing ideas and emotions, and keep creativity as an active part of your life and learning. Students work closely with faculty, guest artists, and peers in a welcoming environment where artistic exploration and human connection are valued at every level of participation.
Dance minor is available to any AU student.
Courses for the Dance Minor are listed in our digital Undergraduate Catalog.
An audition is only required for the BFA. There is no audition requirement for the dance double major or dance minor.
In addition to the Alfred University application, all Performing Arts BFA applicants must submit, 1. Wildcard, and 2. Audition Video with requirements specific to your discipline.
Wildcard Examples:
2. Audition Video - BFA Dance applicants must submit a 2-3 minute video that highlights their movement in one of the following ways:
Before you submit audition, would you like to arrange an informal review of your audition before you submit your materials? Please reach out to the Dance Department Coordinator and faculty, D. Chase Angier, to set up a time to chat!
Students who study dance at Alfred University graduate with real-world artistic experience, professional skills, and the adaptability needed for a wide range of careers in and beyond the arts. Through performance, choreography, somatics, collaboration, and creative exploration, students develop both artistic excellence and highly transferable skills that employers value across many industries.
Graduates of dance programs pursue careers such as:
Along the way, students also build skills that prepare them for careers far beyond dance, including:
Because the program is interdisciplinary, students regularly collaborate across music, theatre, sound studies, and performance design and technology, helping them become flexible creative thinkers prepared for today’s evolving artistic and professional landscape. At Alfred, studying dance is not only about preparing for a job — it’s about learning how to create meaningful work, connect with people, and build a future shaped by creativity and purpose.
Technique matters, but so does your voice, your story, and your humanity. Through mentorship, creativity, and exploration, Alfred dancers grow into confident artists, collaborators, leaders, and changemakers.
You won’t wait years to perform, choreograph, and contribute. Alfred students are active creators from the moment they arrive — building experiences, connections, and confidence through meaningful opportunities.
At Alfred, dance is never confined to one space or one way of thinking. You collaborate across music, theatre, sound studies, and design to create bold, interdisciplinary work that reflects the way contemporary artists create in the real world.
Alfred University offers B.F.A. degrees in Interdisciplinary Performing Arts with focus areas in Dance, Music-Performance, Music-Sound Studies, Performance Design & Technology, and Theatre Applicants.
Submit your PortfolioDance equips students with a profound understanding of dance as both an art form and a way of knowing. It nurtures an appreciation for embodied knowledge, critical thinking, self-discipline, wellness, and collaboration. Through creative research, practice, and imagination, you will dance and choreograph in diverse spaces, exploring contemporary dance, somatics, and various genres, while engaging with pivotal historical figures and eras. You will also develop the skills to describe, interpret, evaluate, and contextualize dance performances and practices.
At Alfred University, our dance programs welcome students of all levels, embracing diversity in experience and style. We weave together dance theory and history, practice, and choreography to help students grow as both dancers and creators. Through hands-on practice and the art of choreography, students develop their skills, which they then bring to life in captivating performances. Our inclusive environment encourages every dancer to express their unique artistry, preparing them to thrive both on stage and in creative roles beyond.
At Alfred University, our dance program provides a dynamic learning environment that fosters collaboration and artistic growth. Students benefit from mentorship by experienced faculty and guest artists, who guide them through technical training, choreography, and performance opportunities. We embrace inclusivity, welcoming dancers of all backgrounds and skill levels, ensuring that everyone feels empowered to express their unique voice. The interdisciplinary nature of our program encourages collaboration with peers in theatre, music, and performance design, inspiring innovative movement and creative exploration. Through this rich integration, students develop the skills and confidence needed to thrive in the diverse world of dance and beyond.
The program brings nationally acclaimed dance companies, choreographers and artists to AU, offering phenomenal opportunities for students to work and learn with innovative artists who are leaders in their field. Our guests have included Brian Brooks and Wendy Whelan, Ann Carlson, Kyle Abraham/Abraham in Motion, Jane Comfort, Yoshiko Chuma, Ishmael Houston Jones, Nick Cave and many more.
Students interested in the Dance minor often explore other related minors and majors, such as:
D. Chase Angier (she/her) is an active artist, educator, curator and arts advocate. A Professor of Dance in the Performing Arts Division at Alfred University, Angier has helped cultivate a dance program rooted in creative placemaking, interdisciplinary composition, and experimentation. She is deeply committed to moving the dance field forward—supporting artists and audiences through teaching, curation, and advocacy.
Angier is the Artistic Director of Angier Performance Works and an interdisciplinary artist whose practice unfolds at the thresholds of movement, visual art, and scenography. Based in New York State but shaped by international collaboration, she lectures, teaches, performs, and creates across borders and disciplines. Angier Performance Works emerges through sustained, intimate collaboration with artists in the visual, performing, and design fields, generating performances that have traveled to Japan, the Czech Republic, Germany, Mexico, the United Kingdom, Iceland, France, and throughout the United States. These works—visually textured, movement-driven, and often situated in non-theatrical environments—investigate interconnectivity, shared presence, and the subtle ways bodies listen to place.
Angier is a member of the NYS DanceForce, a partner with NYSCA, and was an International Juror for the Exhibition of Countries and Regions at the 2023 Prague Quadrennial, a curator for the 2019 Prague Quadrennial of Performance Design and Space, and a Curriculum Specialist in Dance for Juilliard’s Global K – 12 Program. She received her MFA in choreography from The Ohio State University and her BA in dance from The University of California, Los Angeles.
In recent years, I have extended my choreographic thinking into two-dimensional visual art, creating “feeling-forward” images that hold the traces of walking, noticing, and embodied research. My visual work has been presented in New York at the Memorial Art Gallery, the Miller Performing Arts Center, The Peg Bothner Gallery, and in Tennessee at the Stove Works Gallery..
Here are some of the Faculty and Staff in Performing Arts.
All Alfred Faculty and Staff All Faculty and Staff for Performing Arts
