Are Competition Trained Dancers Ready For a College Dance Program?
Abstract
The purpose of this research was to explore the opinions of competition trained dancers and college dance professors to see if dancers in college dance programs were prepared for all the aspects of dance that college offered. The research instrument used was an electronic survey that utilized qualitative and quantitative questions for gathering data. Participants in this study were located throughout the United States and included thirty college dance students and eight college dance professors. The data showed that some students believed they were prepared for a college dance program, while others felt they had holes in their training. The data collected from both dancers and college dance professors suggested that dancers needed to increase their training in ballet, modern, dance history, and improvisation as well as musicality, prior to entering a college dance program. The researcher felt that this study was just the beginning, and more research is needed to fully understand what dancers need to be prepared for a college dance program. This was the first step in opening a dialog about the gap between competition trained dancers and college dance education programs.