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Dance

Dance

Degree Type: Associate of Arts Degree, AA

Pathway: Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences

More Options: Classroom Based

Program Length: 4 Semesters

Location: Downtown Studio, Studio West

Transferability: Transferable, Guaranteed Transfer (GT)

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Fall/Summer registration opens in March

Secure your spot in the classes you need for spring 2024 at Pikes Peak State College today, and take the next step towards achieving your academic and career goals!

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This video was edited by PPSC MGD Student, Nicole Leung

Studio West, Dance Studio

Why choose Dance at PPSC

Mission Statement: The Dance Program is dedicated to creating a well-rounded dance artist who is capable of pursuing a variety of diverse paths. We recognize that every person that enters our program is an individual who has different desires, needs, concerns and goals. We are here to aid on this journey. The program strives to help each student develop, strengthen and further advance technique in a variety of different dance genres, as well as develop critical thinking skills through creative and scholarly processes. We believe that the understanding of the body and the way it moves is a way of knowledge and wisdom that can teach all people (not just dancers) about society, culture and history. Students will discover how to work within groups and how to express their own individuality. Students may study dance for enrichment, fitness, and/or to complete an AA Degree with Designation in Dance (2 year program). Students do not have to be majors to take any/all dance classes.  PPSC Dance Promo

What do PPSC Dance students study?

The program strives to help each student develop, strengthen and further advance technique in a variety of different dance genres, as well as develop critical thinking skills through creative and scholarly processes. You will discover how to work within groups and how to express your own individuality. Upon completion, you will be able to teach dance at studios or in schools, audition for professional companies, create and produce their own work, and/or transfer to a four-year institution to major/minor in dance.

Students who study dance gain an understanding of:

  • A variety of dance styles and techniques, and the opportunity to focus in certain dance genres, as well as the opportunity to perform. (Beginner-Advanced Students can study: Ballet, Modern, Jazz, Tap, Hip Hop, Ballroom, Salsa, Belly Dance, Feldenkrais, and/or Dance Performance)
  • Compositional strategies as it pertains to creating solo, group, site-specific, improvisational and dance for camera work.
  • The historical & cultural context of dance as an art-form and how this relates and works within society.

Students may study dance for enrichment, fitness and/or to complete and earn a Degree with Designation in Dance.

Statewide Transfer Articulation Agreement

Is the dance profession right for you?

Dance is a unique professional field unlike any other that demands dedication, drive and determination. The dance profession requires a person to be physically and emotionally strong, flexible, creative and eager. Upon completion, you will be able to teach dance at studios or in schools, audition for professional companies, create and produce their own work, and/or transfer to a four-year institution to major/minor in dance.

 

Fall for Dance Poster

Performances/Auditions:


Fall for Dance 2023
When: Friday, December 1 & Saturday, December 2, at 7:30PM 
Where: Centennial Campus Theater (5675 S. Academy Blvd; Colorado Springs, CO 80906)
Admission: https://commerce.cashnet.com/ppsctheaterpay
*$5=Students, PPSC Employee, Military, Senior
*$10=General Admission
Fall for Dance 2023 will feature the performance of the PPSC Student Company, High Altitude Dance Ensemble (HADE) performing choreography based from artwork including sculptures, poetry & prose, as well as featuring the PPSC Fall semester classes including Ballet, Jazz, Modern, Tap & Hip Hop.

Auditions for Spring 2024 Advanced Class Placement into Ballet III-IV, Jazz III-IV, Modern III-IV AND Dance Performance (Student Company):
When: Monday, December 11, 2023
Time: 10am-12:30pm
Where: Studio West, room 102 (22 N. Sierra Madre St, Colorado Springs, CO 80903)
Auditions are for class placement into our advanced classes & student company/Dance Performance class. Auditions are geared for students who have prior dance experience, either studio or school, or have previously taken a level 1 course at a college level. Auditions are held at the end of each semester and prior to the start of each semester. No need to prepare any material, just come ready to take class. You only have to attend one of the above listed auditions.

Dance Classes You Might Take

The program strives to help each student develop, strengthen and further advance technique in a variety of different dance genres, as well as develop critical thinking skills through creative and scholarly processes. Dance is a unique professional field unlike any other that demands dedication, drive, and determination. The dance profession requires a person to be physically and emotionally strong, flexible, creative, and eager. Upon completion, students will be able to teach dance at studios or in schools, audition for professional companies, create and produce their own work, and/or transfer to a four-year institution to major/minor in dance.

Students who study dance gain an understanding of:

  • A variety of dance styles and techniques, and the opportunity to focus in certain dance genres, as well as the opportunity to perform. (Beginner-Advanced Students can study: Ballet, Modern, Jazz, Tap, Hip Hop, Ballroom, Salsa, Belly Dance, Feldenkrais, and/or Dance Performance)
  • Compositional strategies as it pertains to creating solo, group, site specific, improvisational and dance for camera work.
  • The historical & cultural context of dance as an art-form and how this relates and works within society.

Students may study dance for enrichment, fitness and/or to complete and earn a Degree with Designation in Dance. You do not need to be a Dance Major in order to take any of our Dance Department classes.

Dance

Introduces the history of dance as a theatre or performing art. Examines dance from Classical Greece through the Renaissance, including court and classical ballet to modern dance with African and Caribbean influences.

Dance

Includes a continuing study of modern dance movement concepts. Focuses on advancing technique work and proficiency. Expands and deepens understanding of alignment, strength, flexibility, endurance, coordination, rhythm and spatial awareness. Improvisation may be included. This course is for students who have successfully completed Modern I or have previous dance training. This course may be repeated up to two times for credit.

Dance

Analyzes, discusses and traces the history of Dance for Camera/Screendance including musicals, art-films and commercial media. Students will get hands-on-training in using the video camera as a two-dimensional stage, progressing to creating their own Dances for Camera. This class will require students to watch and analyze dance media, read and apply historical information discussed in creating their own screen dances, and be actively engaged in class discussions and feedback sessions.

view in catalog

Associate of Arts (AA) Degree in Dance

Students who have studied in the PPSC Dance Department have gone on to major and/or minor in Dance at the following institutions: 

• University of Colorado at Boulder

• Colorado State University, Fort Collins 

• Colorado Mesa University, Grand Junction

• University of Colorado, Colorado Springs

• Metropolitan State University, Denver

• Oklahoma City University, OK

• University of Texas, Austin

• Palm Beach Atlantic University, FL

• Lindenwood University, St. Charles, MO

• University of Hawaii, Manoa, HI

 

Students who have studied in the PPSC Dance Department have also danced professionally with Ormao Dance Company in Colorado Springs & VisKosity Dance Collective in Boulder, as well as creating & performing their own work.

 

Students have also gone on to teach at a variety of different studios and schools across Colorado and have interned and danced as far away as Russia with professional company, Pantera Contemporary Dance.

Upon completion, you will be able to teach dance at studios or in schools, audition for professional companies, create and produce your own work, and/or transfer to a four-year institution to major in dance. Students planning for an AA Degree or to transfer and major/minor in dance will be required to take 10 credits of technique in at least three different styles, as well as Dance Performance I-II, Dance Composition I-II, Dance for Camera, History of Dance, and Methods of Teaching Dance. Technique/Genres of dance styles offered include: Ballet, Modern, Jazz, Feldenkrais for Performing Artists, Tap, Hip Hop, Belly Dance, Ballroom, and Salsa.

By the time you graduate with your AA Degree in Dance, you will be able to:

  • Exhibit a sound foundation of technical & performance skills
  • Apply, through embodiment and words, correct anatomy, proper alignment, and placement
  • Identify, describe, and demonstrate through the generating of movement, the basic elements of dance: time, space, and energy
  • Articulate aesthetic concerns in dance including the analysis of choreography, live and/or film, through speaking and writing
  • Discuss the historical, aesthetic, and social concerns of Western & Non-Western Dance forms
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