Welcome to the Department of Dance’s student resources page! Here, you’ll find essential resources, student organization information and support to enhance your educational journey. Explore the resources available to help you succeed and thrive in your dance studies!
Dance Student Resources
Discover everything you need to thrive as a student in the Department of Dance!
Dance Student Organizations
There are many student organizations at UNC Charlotte available for all students to join. Range of Motion and MOVE Dance Alliance are two that work closely with the Department of Dance to share rehearsal and performance space. Both organizations produce their own performances and end-of-semester showcases, giving students the opportunity to choreograph and perform.
Range of Motion Dance Ensemble
Faculty Advisor: Ashley L. Tate | President: Abbey Murphy | Instagram: @rom_uncc
Range of Motion Dance Ensemble (ROM) is a student-run organization that was created in 2013. The movement concept “Range of Motion” refers to how your body extends through space; therefore, the purpose of ROM is to create a positive environment for individuals to further their artistry while extending and sharing their passion for dance. ROM supplements the Department of Dance curriculum by focusing on commercial dance styles.
MOVE Dance Alliance
Faculty Advisor: Alyah Baker | President: Aliyah March | Instagram: @movedance_clt
MOVE Dance Alliance is an organization that gives students a chance to choreograph and perform every semester in a dance showcase. It is open to dancers of all different backgrounds and levels and allows members to have full artistic freedom in creating and performing their own dance works. In addition to their showcase, they also hold various workshops that help members establish meaningful relationships with one another and help strengthen the dance community.
Support Resources
If you need classroom support, have questions about a classroom topic or approach or have witnessed something in class you’d like to speak about, the course instructor is a highly recommended first point of contact. If you cannot approach the instructor, you may consider communicating with the department chair or production director as a facilitator. See more resources, below.
Student Assistance and Support Services
The Office of Student Affairs: Student Assistance and Support Services (SASS) assists, supports and advocates for students experiencing a broad range of issues, concerns or challenges interfering with a student’s ability to be successful academically or personally. This includes absence verification, basic needs, emergency housing, food insecurity, student complaints, student emergency fund, tuition, housing and dining appeals, withdrawal and incomplete grade requests.
Office of Civil Rights & Title IX
You can report incidents of sexual and interpersonal misconduct, as well as incidents of discrimination and harassment to the Office of Civil Rights & Title IX. This office takes active measures to create or restore a respectful, safe and inclusive environment for community members that is free from discrimination, discriminatory harassment and sexual or interpersonal violence. Title IX reports also connect students with appropriate resources (i.e. SASS, Dean of Students, chair, etc.)
Counseling and Psychological Services (CAPS)
The primary goal of Counseling and Psychological Services (CAPS) is to provide comprehensive wellness-related programs and services to students. CAPS offers individual and group counseling, crisis assistance, consultation, referrals, outreach and online training.
Dance Career Preparation & Resources
University Career Center
Within the Department of Dance, career preparation is highly prioritized and integrated into the curriculum. Students have access to a wide variety of career development tools and resources throughout their educational program, continuing into their status as alumni. Dance actively partners with the Career Center to support students in their career preparation through career coaching, experiential learning, employer engagement and much more!
As a student at UNC Charlotte, it is never too early to begin focusing on your professional development as you prepare for your career after graduation. Review the top career skills acquired in this degree program, student experiential learning and career outcomes and career development resources.
Career Skill Development
In the Dance Department, students gain valuable career skills that help prepare them for life after graduation. These are the specific career skills learned in the Dance program:
- Leadership – Dance students gain leadership skills through participating in rehearsal, performance and production experiences. There are many additional opportunities to build leadership abilities, such as working directly with the chair of the department by serving on the Student Advisory Committee.
- Critical Thinking – Coursework in Dance integrates theory with practice, providing students with problem solving skills and the ability to contextualize information. Faculty include students in their research projects, further developing critical thinking skills.
- Teamwork – Dance performances require groups of individuals to work together for a common goal, leading students in our program to develop extensive collaborative skills.
- Communication – Through varied coursework that includes writing, speaking, creating dances and performing, students in Dance gain the ability to convey ideas and information and to express themselves.
- Professionalism – Dance students work as course preceptors and production assistants, participate in internships, travel to conferences and festivals, teach classes and workshops and produce their own research and choreography. These opportunities develop students’ abilities to present themselves in professional environments.
- Engaging Across Perspectives – Students in our program learn dance forms and practices from a variety of cultures. As they work with faculty and other students from various perspectives and areas of expertise, they gain experience interacting and communicating with others both like and unlike themselves.
Data & Student Success
Access data on experiential learning and post-graduation career success of students studying in this department.
- See post-graduation Career Success Data
- Explore Experiential Learning Data
Dance Career Resources
Career Center Resources
In addition to your academic department, the Career Center provides valuable career development resources to assist you in developing your professional brand and prepare you for purposeful work.
- Make a Career Coaching Appointment with a Career Community specific Career Coach through Hire-A-Niner
- Explore example career paths you can pursue with your major: WCIDWAMI
- Find and apply for on- and off-campus internship and career opportunities on Hire-A-Niner
- Gain Experience through a variety of short and/or long term experiential learning opportunities
- Develop your Personal Branding Materials (i.e., resumes and CVs, cover letters, LinkedIn & portfolios, practice interviews, professional attire, etc.)
- Learn and develop the Career Skills that employers highly value
- Make Connections with professionals:
- Download the Virtual Career Guide for visual examples of the career preparation process
The Career Center is located in Atkins Annex, next to the main Atkins Library. Students can utilize Career Center Drop-In Hours, Monday-Friday from 10 a.m. – 3 p.m., to get their quick questions answered and get connected with careers information.
Student Learning Outcomes
The Department of Dance at UNC Charlotte offers a diverse, open-access curriculum and awards Bachelor of Arts degrees and certificates. Through our commitments to creative practice, inquiry, performance, pedagogy, inclusivity, cultural awareness and community engagement, we aspire to develop dance professionals and dance-aware citizens, to help build UNC Charlotte’s identity as an urban research university and to hold a unique place among dance programs nationally.
Students will demonstrate proficency in…
SLO 1: Written and Oral Communication + Critical Thinking: Communicate ideas, evidence and opinions through clear and cogent writing and speaking.
- Use a variety of scholarly, artistic and popular sources to support arguments and explain reasoning.
- Generate, refine and revise writing and presentations, incorporating self, peer and instructor feedback.
- Create a range of artifacts that show awareness of purpose, genre and audience.
SLO 2: Bodily and Performance Practice: Synthesize physical and cultural knowledge to dance in a variety of contexts.
- Develop strength, coordination, stamina, range of motion and kinesthetic awareness needed to perform diverse dance forms.
- Apply knowledge of anatomy and somatics practices to dance practice.
- Apply knowledge of musicality to dance practice.
- Develop personal knowledge of individual strengths, needs and limitations and strategies for healthy dance practice.
- Learn, rehearse, refine and perform dance choreography through class, audition, rehearsal and production activities.
- Apply appropriate terminology and cultural practices to engagement in a range of dance contexts.
SLO 3: Pedagogical Skills: Plan, implement and reflect on dance teaching. (Dance Education concentration only)
- Conceive and create effective dance classroom sessions and other dance experiences that include clear, relevant learning objectives; appropriate, effective assessment methods; and comprehensive, engaging learning plans.
SLO 4: Professional & Leadership Skills: Work independently and in collaboration with others to engage in the dance field as a professional.
- Demonstrate appropriate professional habits: be on time and prepared, work with energy and commitment and invest in personal rehearsal and reflection.
- Accept and apply feedback, engage in problem solving and communicate with awareness of others’ perspectives to strengthen dance practice.
- Facilitate dance experiences for others, including classes, rehearsals and performances.
- Identify and access resources needed to support one’s education and professional journey.
- Advocate for the needs of dance and dancers across a range of university, community and professional contexts.
SLO 5: Community-Building and Cultural Awareness: Engage in a range of artistic, scholarly and pedagogical pursuits to build understanding of the role of dance in society.
- Explain how dance reflects and shapes the values, histories and contexts of individuals and cultural communities.
- Facilitate dance experiences that offer opportunities for meaningful connections among members of the community.
- Reflect on one’s assets, areas for growth and responsibilities as an artist and contributor to communities and society.
SLO 6: Creative Practice: Generate, compose, perform and present ideas through sustained creative practice.
- Explore a range of approaches to and purposes for dance-making through physical engagement, viewing, analysis and discussion of choreographic works.
- Develop strategies for working independently and collaborating with others in a variety of dance-making situations.
- Select and apply compositional strategies, design principles and accompaniment appropriate to the cultural context of the work created.
- Generate, refine and revise artistic projects, incorporating self, peer and instructor feedback.
- Apply production elements and design concepts to enhance presentation of choreographic work.
SLO 7: Quantitative Data: Analyze, manipulate and interpret quantitative information and data relevant to engagement in the dance field as a professional.