Every term, the Theater and Dance department mounts a major theater production directed by a faculty member or guest director. Likewise, in the fall and spring, dance faculty create a fully produced concert with Semaphore, a company of student dancers. Interspersed with these productions and concerts are the student “comps” performances, which are staged by our senior majors. So, all told, the department is almost always in production for not just one event, but several.
Explore Carleton’s student-run organizations that produce theater and dance. There is the Experimental Theater Board, which produces anywhere from three to five productions each term. The Experimental Dance Board produces a large-scale concert of new works twice yearly. Dancers can also participate in numerous student-led dance groups, including Synchrony, a group that performs to popular music; WHOA!, the hip hop group performing on the main stage in the spring; Krush, the K-Pop group; and JCO, the Jazz and Contemporary group.
For performers, there are abundant opportunities to get on stage. If you’re interested in getting involved behind the scenes, there are ample opportunities there as well. Every term the department hires over thirty students to work in the scene, lighting, and costume shops. Students are paid for this work, but they uniformly report that what they learn about design and technical theater in the process is just as important.
Whatever your specific interest, Theater and Dance classes and productions offer a way to explore it. The department offers courses in acting, directing, design, and playwriting on the theater side, and Krump, Contemporary, Modern, Ballet, West African, choreography and Dance History on the dance side. The department brings in several professional guest choreographers every year and guest directors for mainstage productions. The department is also keen, however, to keep the curriculum current with the cutting edge of professional performance practice and to respond to the challenges of the times, promoting ethical, anti-racist practices and the belief that diversity and inclusion are critical for the advancement of the art form.