Best Colleges for Dance

INTRODUCTION

If you think life as a private dance instructor, pilates instructor, or group fitness instructor sounds interesting, then a degree in dance may just be for you. You could even become the dance instructor for competitive ballet!

POPULARITY

Dance is the 122nd most popular degree in America, with 2,661 students receiving their bachelors degree last year. It just beat out #123 Apparel and Textiles, and narrowly lost to #121 Interior Design.

The degree is offered at a total of 267 colleges across the nation, and is the 85th most widely offered degree. Given that dance is offered at 41% of the Top 100 Best Colleges in America, you can be sure this is a critical degree and the skillsets acquired are likely to last for a long time.

It is also worth noting that close to four in seven colleges offering dance are public making it a pretty accessible field.

The mid east produces the most dance graduates, largely led by SUNY at Purchase College, while it’s the Pacific-12 Conference that leads conference totals. As far as states, New York ranks highest, with particular help from Marymount Manhattan College and Pace University.

All that being said, no individual school produces more dance graduates than Glendale Community College, which graduated 59 students last year alone. Although size is critical, another important factor to consider is the program’s density (the percent of all students that study dance). More students studied dance as a percentage of total students at The Juilliard School than any other college.

We wish you luck finding the right college for you. We hope you enjoy Authority's 2022 official Best Colleges for Dance list. Some of our picks may surprise you!