What is the ideal student for the Lang Dance program?

Students who thrive in Lang's dance program usually want to pursue a dance education while also having opportunities to explore the liberal arts more broadly. They often have multiple interests, and are excited to explore dance in relation to other fields and disciplines (psychology, philosophy, literary studies, history). They are interested in experimentation, and they are eager to consider dance in a social world.

What characterizes a liberal arts education at Lang?

At Lang, students map their own liberal arts curriculum, designed through close consultation with faculty and advisors. It's a great place for creative scholars. Students engage in small seminars rather than large lectures, work closely with involved faculty, and become part of a community committed to social justice.  

What is the process to apply for the Lang Dance program?

There is no audition required for admission into the Lang Dance program. Interested students apply to Lang College online using the Common Application.

What's the difference between B.A. and B.F.A. degrees and program?

In short, in New York State a B.A. degree requires that at least 90 of the 120 total credits are earned in liberal arts courses, leaving a maximum of 30 credits earned in studio courses. Those proportions are flipped for a B.F.A degree - a minimum of 30 credits must be earned in liberal arts courses, leaving 90 credits that can be earned in studio courses.

Dance at Lang differs significantly from traditional conservatory-style programs, where dance students spend a majority of their time in studios. The Lang dance program has a dynamic relationship with the open liberal arts curriculum at Eugene Lang College, as well as with the broader New School university and New York City. Conversation is fostered across artistic genres and students are encouraged to think about dance in social, cultural, and historical contexts, through a variety of disciplinary lenses.

Is there an audition for the program?

No - it is not necessary to audition for the program. Any student accepted to Lang can decide to pursue a major or minor in dance, or to work with dance within an Arts in Context concentration. The program welcomes students with varying degrees and kinds of prior dance experience, and the curriculum recognizes and engages multiple virtuosities, ways of understanding the body, and approaches to dance. 

That said, we do hold popular open house events for prospective students that include a sample class that can be utilized as a placement audition to help us direct you to appropriate courses. 

The Lang Dance open-house recruitment events include both a seminar style discussion and a sample dance class taught by Lang faculty in order to communicate our distinctive approach to prospective students, many of whom are also attending auditions for BFA programs. Lang’s open house/sample class event is not an audition to enter the program, but rather an important opportunity for prospective dance students to experience the dynamic integration of practice and theory and the progressive pedagogical practices that distinguish the Lang Dance program. Lang dance students have included those who arrive determined to major in dance from the start, as well as those who want to know that dance is offered at Lang, but don’t decide to commit to the major until after their first year at Lang. For many of our current students, it was the embodied experience of the sample class and its emphasis on learning through investigation rather than imitation that convinced them to attend Lang.

Are there performance opportunities each semester?

Yes.  Each semester, students have the opportunity to work with guest artists in an intensive rehearsal process, presenting a re-staged or new dance in a public performance. Recent guests artists include Sarah Michelson, Eiko Otake, John Jasperse, Luciana Achugar, Reggie Wilson, Souleymane Badolo, Beth Gill, Yvonne Meier, Ishmael Houston-Jones, Juliette Mapp, Sally Silvers, Katy Pyle, and representatives of the Trisha Brown Dance Company.

Each year, one performance work is created by an Artist-in-Residence from Movement Research, a New York-based professional organization that serves as a laboratory for experimentation in the movement-based performance arts. Recent MR artists include Juliana May, David Thomson, Ivy Baldwin, Jeanine Durning, Joanna Kotze, Nami Yamamoto and Molly Poerstel.

Students interested in choreography also have opportunities to present their own work, in end-of-semester performances at the New School's Tishman Auditorium or New York Live Arts.

Is it possible to double major?

Yes.  Many students choose to pursue a double major, combining their study of dance with inquiry in another field such as Culture & Media, Global Studies, Literary Studies, or Psychology. It is also quite possible to pursue any of the University minors available across disciplines at The New School.

photo: Urban Flock Band by Joanna Kotze
photo © Frank Mullaney