Everyone in my company loves visiting George Mason University.  It’s a place where we can perform for an audience that loves dance and a place where we can teach students who love to dance.  What could be better than that?  It’s an inspiring environment. …I hold George Mason University’s dance program in high regard.  The program is really doing something right.      Mark Morris

• The dance program is highly selective. All prospective students must audition and outstanding candidates are considered for talent scholarships. The audition process limits the incoming freshman class to 20. Current Dance majors come to George Mason from Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, New York, Connecticut, Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Ohio, Illinois, Missouri, Kentucky, Maryland, Virginia, West Virginia, North Carolina, Florida, California, Washington, and Mexico. A number of dance majors have been University Scholars and large numbers are invited to participate in the honors program.
• There are 80 dance majors, 30-50 minors in dance appreciation, and more than 1000 other university students who enroll in dance classes each semester.
• Performance opportunities abound at George Mason. The Department produces five annual concerts, plus numerous choreographic showcases for audiences that exceed 4000 each season. Venues include the University’s 2,000 seat Center for the Arts Concert Hall, the 500 seat Harris Theater and a dance performance studio.
• George Mason University dancers participate each year in an American College Dance Festival. Dances created by majors, faculty and guest artists are regularly selected to be performed in regional festival Galas, as well as in the National American College Dance Festival at the Kennedy Center.
• The department’s resources include four studios, a completely equipped performance lab, a sound recording studio and a full range of digital video recording and editing equipment. Two additional large studios, plus a conditioning space and large locker rooms, are slated for construction in 2009.
• All technique classes are conducted with accompanists from a staff of nine outstanding musicians.
• There are nine full time faculty in the Dance Department, who bring a progressive vision to the rigorous curriculum of studio and theoretical study, and there are ten to twelve additional dance specialists who teach each year. Faculty include former members of the Lar Lubovitch Dance Company, Mark Morris Dance Group, Mikhail Baryshnikov’s White Oak Dance Project, Paul Taylor Dance Company, Doug Varone and Dancers, and the Limon Company.
• The contemporary performance repertoire of George Mason dancers is kept alive through a successful long-standing guest artist residency program. Most recently, students have performed the work of Mark Morris, Lar Lubovitch, David Parsons, Laura Dean, Susan Marshall, Doug Varone, Paul Taylor and Twyla Tharp.
• Dance majors at George Mason enjoy the many performances presented by professional dance companies in the Washington metropolitan area, and are especially fortunate that all the artists who perform on campus at the Center for the Arts also direct master classes, give lectures and conduct discussions in the Dance Department. Recent dance performances on campus have included Ron K. Brown, Miami City Ballet, David Dorfman, Doug Varone, Momix, Aterballetto, Martha Graham Dance Company, Bill T. Jones, Susan Marshall & Dancers, and Mark Morris Dance Group.
• Graduates of the dance degree programs at George Mason are professional performers, choreographers, university faculty members, dance educators, health practitioners and arts managers. You might meet a GMU dance alum on tour with Mark Morris Dance Group or the Parsons Dance Company, dancing with the Metropolitan Opera, presenting her choreography in New York, Minneapolis or Richmond, teaching at Arizona State University or planning performances at Wolf Trap’s Filene Center for the Performing Arts.

Our invitation to you
Visit our campus and watch us in action. Performers and choreographers who are B.A., B.F.A., and M.F.A. candidates at George Mason have attracted the attention of the media and many professional dance companies. Observe a class, see a performance, meet our dance majors, and speak with an advisor. Our Dance Department is an exciting setting in which to foster your dance career. Strong dance technique, intensive theory, guest artist residencies, abundant performance opportunities – these are the trademarks of our degree programs. Join us for a day in our spacious dance studios and our three state-of-the-art theaters. We would be delighted to have you as a guest. Just suggest a day, and leave us your email or phone number.

Elizabeth Price
Chair, Department of Dance

Contact Us
Dance Department MS 3D4
George Mason University
Fairfax, VA 22030-4444 (703) 993-1114
dance@gmu.edu