Dance, MFA
Contact Info
| Phone: | 314-935-5858 |
| Email: | pad@wustl.edu |
| Website: | http://pad.wustl.edu/ |
Master's Candidacy
To earn a master’s degree at Washington University, a student must complete all courses required by their department; maintain satisfactory academic progress; fulfill all academic and residence requirements; and apply to graduate via Workday Student. For the details of master’s degree general requirements in Arts & Sciences, including an explanation of Satisfactory Academic Progress, students should review the Master’s Degree Academic Information page of the Arts & Sciences Bulletin.
Program Requirements
- Total Units Required: 60 units (15 units per semester)
- Degree Length: Two years
- Note: Students must be enrolled in 9 graduate credits each semester to retain full-time status. As students complete their course work, if enrolled in fewer than 9 graduate credits, they must enroll in a specific Arts & Sciences graduate course that will show 0 units but does count as full-time status. Students should connect with their department to ensure proper enrollment prior to Add/Drop.
- At the end of their first year, students will propose a culminating project — typically a dance concert or another public presentation of creative work largely expressed in dance — and submit a paper about its production, including analysis and critique, that they will defend orally.
- Grade Requirement: Students must earn a grade of C- or better in all courses. Students must maintain a minimum cumulative grade point average of at least 3.0 in courses that count toward their credit units.
Required Courses
I. Technical Development: 13 units
Students must take 13 units of credit in studio-based movement praxis that have the 5000-level course designation. The courses can be in any genres that best support the student's development.
II. Choreography and Performance: 20 units
| Code | Title | Units |
|---|---|---|
| DANCE 5010 | Dance Composition Laboratory I: Exploring Process and Format | 3 |
| DANCE 5011 | Dance Composition Laboratory II: Exploring Alternative Venues and Audience Connections | 3 |
| DANCE 5021 | Approaches to Improvisation and Spontaneous Composition | 3 |
| DANCE 5100 | Stage Lighting (or equivalent 5000-level course in production) | 3 |
| DANCE 5910 | Independent Choreography Project I | 3 |
| DANCE 5911 | Independent Choreography Project II | 3 |
| DANCE 5030 | Performance Artistry (must be taken twice) | 1 |
III. Research and Integrated Learning: 12 units
Required:
| Code | Title | Units |
|---|---|---|
| DANCE 5060 | Research Methods Colloquium | 3 |
Plus 9 units chosen from the following:
| Code | Title | Units |
|---|---|---|
| DANCE 5102 | Modern Dance and the African American Legacy II | 2 |
| DANCE 5120 | Performing the Political in American Dance | 3 |
| DANCE 5130 | Dance Pedagogy | 3 |
| DANCE 5040 | Methodologies of Global Dance Studies | 3 |
| DANCE 5140 | Performing Gender and Sexuality in America | 3 |
| DANCE 5050 | Guest Artist Residency Workshop | 1 |
| DANCE 5070 | Theories of the Body in Performance | 3 |
IV. Electives: 9 units
Students must complete 9 additional units at the 5000 level or above. These units may be from any area of the performing arts or relevant areas in other departments or programs. MFA students are encouraged to pursue courses that support or help to define their individual trajectories as artists.
V. Mentored Teaching Experience
MFA in Dance students at Washington University must complete a department-defined Mentored Experience. The Mentored Experience Requirement is a degree requirement for MFA in Dance students that is notated on the student’s transcript when complete. Each department has an established Mentored Experience Implementation Plan in which the number of units that a student must earn through Mentored Teaching Experience(s) and/or Mentored Professional Experience(s) is defined. The Mentored Experience Implementation Plans outline how students within the discipline will be mentored to achieve competencies in teaching at basic and advanced levels. Some departments may elect to include Mentored Professional Experiences as an avenue for completing some units of the Mentored Experience Requirement. Eligible students will enroll in ASGS MTE 8005, 8010, or 8015 Assistant in Instruction, ASGS MTE 8020 Mentored Independent Teaching, or ASGS MPE 8120 Mentored Professional Experience to signify their progression toward completing the overall Mentored Experience Requirement for the degree.
Each Mentored Teaching Experience will be fashioned around the student's interests, when possible, and guided by a full-time member of the dance faculty. For more information, visit the Mentored Experience Implementation Plan tab.
VI. Final Project: 6 units
| Code | Title | Units |
|---|---|---|
| DANCE 5080 | Final Project I | 3 |
| DANCE 5081 | Final Project II | 3 |
At the end of the first year, each MFA student will propose a plan for the final project, choose a main advisor, and form a final project committee. A concert is the typical format of the MFA final project, but it can take other forms of public presentation. The primary requirement is that the student's creative work must be largely expressed in dance. In addition to the presentation, the student will write a dramaturgical essay that contextualizes the work from its initial conception through its reception. The student will submit a final version of the written component as well as a video record of the concert or public presentation for archival purposes within the department.
As part of their degree requirements, Dance MFA students must complete a program-defined Mentored Experience Requirement (MER) as per these guidelines. The Mentored Experience Implementation Plan (MEIP) is the written articulation of a program-defined degree requirement for Dance MFA students to engage in mentored teaching activities and/or mentored professional activities, collectively referred to as MERs.
Mentored Experience Requirements (MERs)
Philosophy of Teaching
Our philosophy is that teaching experience is essential for success in the field of dance. The dance artist remains closely tied to teaching throughout their career, whether they pursue a faculty position in higher education, a career as an independent choreographer, or the establishment of their own dance company. As director of their own company, the dance artist may also be the main, if only, teacher for the company dancers. Often dance artists are required to include a “teaching” residency within any grant or fellowship proposal. In addition, the ability to teach remains a main component in applying, achieving, and retaining a dance faculty position in higher education. Some job postings want a dance faculty member who can specialize in a particular genre and teach many levels of ability within that genre. Given that many dance departments have a small number of full-time faculty, however, many job postings require faculty who can teach in multiple genres of dance technique, as well as dance history, anatomy/kinesiology, composition, and other areas. Very few dance faculty positions are research-oriented; almost all are teaching track and emphasize mentoring young dancers.
At the same time, our program is quite intensive: 60 credits in two years. We work with our students' independent career trajectories and goals to determine the best MTE plan: whether to deepen their abilities in a particular genre (i.e., ballet) to promote their expertise in that subfield, or whether they should gain experience in multiple areas. Some students enter our program after a long career in teaching at the K-12 level or open classes to adult professionals; others have not taught much before.
Given this range of backgrounds, our MTE is flexible. In order to graduate, a student must complete 10 to 20 units of an MTE. That could be fulfilled with completing one Assistant in Instruction (AI) at 10 units or one Mentored Independent Teaching (MIT) at 20 units. Any teaching beyond 10 to 20 units would put students on an optional Teaching Intensive Pathway (TIP).
Preparatory Engagement
Preparatory Engagement activities are those that represent an introduction to the foundational skills associated with teaching or communication. Pedagogical preparation engagement activities are normally completed before students are permitted to engage in assisting or teaching in a classroom.
The Dance MFA requires two Preparatory Engagement activities:
- Center for Teaching and Learning Orientation, fall semester of first year
- Pedagogy component of the introduction to graduate studies course
In the first semester of the program, students are required to take our 3-credit introduction to graduate studies course, Dance 5200 Research Methods Colloquium. The course is divided into four three-week units, with the additional weeks of the semester being introduction, projects, and so on:
- How to be a graduate student
- How to be a scholar
- How to be an artist
- How to be a teacher
This last three-week unit consists of sessions on pedagogy and then requires an outside-of-class practicum, during which students teach their own 80-minute classes in a dance faculty member’s course and receive feedback from that faculty member.
Mentored Teaching Experiences (MTEs)
Assistant in Instruction (AI)
An Assistant in Instruction (AI) is a student who is directly engaged in the organization, instruction, and/or support of a semester-long course primarily taught by a faculty member. An AI receives mentorship from a faculty member related to best practices in classroom engagement, instruction in the field, interpersonal engagement, and other relevant skills. Students and mentors complete a mentorship plan prior to the start of each AI experience. To complete each AI assignment and to ensure that it applies toward their degree requirements, students must register for the appropriate course number for each semester of engagement. Refer to the "Required Pathways for Completion" section below for course numbers and details.
A student can be an AI in any studio technique course or seminar course at the 1000, 2000, or 3000 level. If a student requests, it is possible, with faculty permission, to be an AI for a Composition course (2030 or 3030). AI engagements are 10 MER units.
- 10 units = tracking attendance, participation, and discussion board posts; leading warmup in a studio course or doing grading in a seminar course; guest teaching one class during the semester
Mentored Independent Teaching (MIT)
MIT is a semester-long experience for students who engage as the primary instructor or co-instructor of a course under the mentorship of a faculty member as part of the MER. Students and mentors complete a mentorship plan prior to the start of each MIT experience. To complete each MIT assignment and to ensure that it applies toward their degree requirements, students must register for the appropriate course number (ASGS 8020) for each semester of engagement. Refer to the "Required Pathways for Completion" section below for more details.
A student with significant prior teaching experience may elect not to do an AI and instead complete an MIT for 20 units in the spring semester of year one or the fall or spring semester of year two.
Required Pathways for Completion
Students work with their faculty mentor and their Director of Graduate Studies to plan how and when they will complete their MERs. Students register during the normal registration period for courses in accordance with one of these approved pathways.
The Dance MFA requires 10 to 20 units of MTE, dependent upon number of AI and MIT engagements.
There are two pathways to completing the MER requirement.
- A student may complete one AI for 10 units in the spring semester of year one or in the fall or spring semester of year two.
- A student with significant prior teaching experience may elect not to do an AI and instead complete an MIT for 20 units in the spring semester of year one or the fall or spring semester of year two.
Pathway #1
| ASGS 8010 | Take one time |
Pathway #2
| ASGS 8020 | Take one time |
Optional Activity: Teaching Intensive Pathway (TIP)
The TIP is an optional pathway for those students whose career interests lie in academia or another field that would benefit from extended teaching experiences. This immersive experience allows students to further explore the breadth and depth of teaching best practices and pedagogy related to their respective field. Students who are interested in participating in this elective experience must formally request to participate, which is subject to program approval. Due to this experience being an elective, unpaid experience, students who participate in the TIP will not receive compensation.
Dance MFA students may opt to take up to 20 to 40 MER units after one of above required MTE pathways is completed in order to complete a TIP.
Optional Pathway A (20 units; only possible if MTE completed by fall semester of second year)
| ASGS 8020 | Take one time |
Optional Pathway B (30 units; only possible if MTE completed in spring semester of first year)
| ASGS 8010 | Take one time |
| ASGS 8020 | Take one time |
Optional Pathway C (40 units; only possible if MTE completed in spring semester of first year)
| ASGS 8020 | Take two times |