The faculty and staff of the department of Theatre Arts and Dance are outstanding educators who combine their dedication as teachers with their lives as artists, scholars, and theatre professionals in the vibrant cultural life of Los Angeles. Students find an interdisciplinary environment that supports student-faculty interaction and collaboration, one that fosters partnerships with the venues and organizations that make L.A. a world capital of arts, entertainment and research.
The combination of theatre with dance offers exciting opportunities in either discipline, and in the interplay between these arts.
In dance, the Department has traditionally focused on contemporary dance, including modern and jazz dance, with a wide range of classical dance, dance history and theory providing essential foundations for performing and understanding dance in a liberal arts context. A new program modification is in the works that will create new concentrations in commercial and digital dance and will incorporate more tap and hip-hop which have become popular with our students.
Dance and theatre performances off campus complement the campus events that showcase student performers, often in partnership with professional directors/choreographers. Technological innovations on campus have contributed to performances incorporating virtual reality into the artistic mix. Tours to local schools, universities around the state, and various Los Angeles venues provide students the chance to reach new and diverse audiences.
Theatre students participate in the American College Theatre Festival. The College supports student travel and participation in conferences and workshops that supplement the courses and productions on campus and in venues around Los Angeles.
The curriculum includes preparation in all aspects of theatre, from technical areas to creation and performance, while insuring a firm understanding of the social, historical and theoretical contexts essential to a well-grounded liberal arts education. Interdisciplinary collaborations have strengthened our program by familiarizing students with other performance disciplines, from film and TV to opera and performance art. Students have benefited from connections to educational theatre companies, in such areas as health education and community based programming. Internships, and service-learning are essential components of the program, and the entertainment industry has established an initiative to recruit Cal State L.A. students for many extraordinary opportunities.