Vassar College recently approved a new major in dance. In the coming years, the Dance Department will expand its offerings beyond its current correlate sequences in Dance Performance and Dance Studies, allowing students to declare a dance major. Prior to this decision, the Dance Department had been the only performing arts department at Vassar to not offer a major.
“It has been a long time coming,” Lecturer in Dance Leslie Sachs told The Miscellany News. When Sachs arrived at Vassar in 2018, she was surprised to discover that the College did not offer a major or correlate in dance. “It was really treated more like an extracurricular or a hobby,” she said.
Despite this lack of official recognition, the practice and study of dance have a long history at Vassar, with the first formal class being offered in 1898. However, dance operated as part of the Athletic and Physical Education Department until 2005. The correlates in Dance Performance and Dance Studies were approved in December 2021.
Vassar’s program emphasizes the dual importance of academics and dancing, with Fiora Hogan ’28 writing, “Vassar is a secret gem of the college dance world. I was immediately drawn to the strong dance program at Vassar that also allowed me to explore my academics. It’s hard to find a school that has both!”
The Dance Department decided that the correlates and prospective majors were necessary for students’ dedication to be fully recognized. “The dance faculty believes that students should have acknowledgement of their work on their transcripts, on their resumés, and anywhere else this credit could be useful. The students’ work in dance is as serious and comprehensive as it is in other disciplines, and we feel strongly that it should be recognized as such,” Lecturer and Chair of Dance Miriam Mahdaviani-Goldstone wrote to The Miscellany News via email.
Tara Sweeney ’28 echoed a similar sentiment, writing, “The faculty have been dedicated to operating the dance department with the rigor of a major for years, so I’m glad we are receiving recognition. The dancers of the Vassar dance department constantly push themselves creatively and physically, and earning the dance major will benefit students hoping to pursue professional dance careers as performers, choreographers, teachers, or arts administrators.”
Mahdaviani-Goldstone noted that, in recent years, students have begun creating their own opportunities to comprehensively research and analyze dance topics. To her, this development signaled the necessity of a dance major. She wrote, “Several students incorporated dance topics into their Senior theses, in disciplines ranging from Sociology and Cognitive Science to English and Film. A few years ago, the senior prize in Multidisciplinary Studies went to a Dance student who was a Greek and Roman Studies major. This student choreographed her senior thesis and presented her dance in a fully-produced performance.”
Clara Alger ’26, a history major and dance performance correlate, is incorporating dance research into her senior thesis [Disclaimer: Alger is a Contributing Editor for The Miscellany News]. “Because I have spent so much of my Vassar time on dance, I thought that, for a culminating project, it would be really nice if I could combine my two primary modes of study—dance and history—together,” she told the Miscellany. “My history thesis is about one woman who was a dancer, choreographer and political activist in the 1930s. One of the things I’m arguing is that she really showed how dance education is vital. And I’m in a dance pedagogy class right now, so it’s been really fun to see all those connections come to light.”
Sachs similarly described the expansive and multidisciplinary nature of dance, emphasizing that this quality would naturally lend itself to a robust course of study. “The overarching mission of a liberal arts education is the education of the entire human being,” she said. “Which means not just the intellect, it means the spirit, the emotional, the physical—all of it works together. It’s like the body—all the systems in the body function to create a harmonious union and whole. So, the arts are, in that way, essential for education and a growing human being.”
Current dance students have also expressed excitement for the major. “When I got here as a freshman the dance correlate still felt fairly new and even though now as a junior I will not be declaring a dance major, I am glad that the sophomores and freshmen now have the opportunity,” Zoë LaCheen-Fine ’27, Assistant to the Director of Vassar Repertory Dance Theatre, wrote to the Miscellany.
Several students have expressed interest in becoming dance majors. Annabelle Fields ’27, an Art History Major, stated that she is considering declaring a double major in dance, writing, “I’m very excited that this has become a new opportunity for those of us that chose to dance so many hours a week and are really passionate about pursuing dance.”
The formal process for developing the major began after the Dance Performance and Dance Studies correlates were approved. The Dance Department subsequently introduced new courses to broaden its offerings. “The faculty worked to develop courses such as Global Dance, Dance Pedagogy, Musical Theater, Dance History, and Perspectives in Dance and Society. We also introduced some cross-listed courses (with Sociology, Drama and Cognitive Science) and a Community Engaged Learning intensive,” Mahdaviani-Goldstone explained.
To approve the major, the Dance Department worked with Vassar’s Committee on Curricular Policy. Mahdaviani-Goldstone wrote, “We worked with the committee to ensure that a Dance major could be meaningful, attainable, and meet the high standards Vassar sets for all its Majors. I am pleased to say that when we were ready to present our proposal to the full faculty for a vote, it passed unanimously!”
When asked how the dance major would differ from the Dance Department’s correlates, Mahdaviani-Goldstone wrote, “The Dance major will be more comprehensive and include two requirements: a course in choreography and a Senior Capstone project.
Sachs also stressed the importance of theoretical coursework, which has been growing in the Dance Department and would be an important component of the major. “Students who will be Dance majors will be really educated in the art form, which has so many legs to it,” she said.
LaCheen-Fine expressed hope for what the new major would bring, both to the Dance Department and Vassar as a whole. “I think it will attract more students who are serious about dancing professionally and only add positively to this campus,” she wrote.
While Vassar has approved the major, the College will still need to obtain final approval from New York State. If the process goes as expected, students will be able to declare a dance major beginning in the Fall 2026 semester.