Located in Indianapolis, Indiana, Butler University is home to one of the leading dance programs in higher education. Housed within the Jordan College of the Arts, the Department of Dance offers three dance major degree programs:
- BFA in Dance – Performance
- BA in Dance – Pedagogy
- BS in Dance – Arts Administration
The Butler University Department of Dance operates in Lily Hall, a campus building that houses five studios of various sizes. The largest studio also serves as a black box theater. Students also perform at Clowes Memorial Hall, a beautiful 2,148 seat theater. Inside Lily Hall, there is also a Conditioning Room for cross-training and dancer wellness.
Students have five opportunities to perform each school year, including student-choreographed works and the full length Nutcracker with live orchestra.
In January of my senior year of high school, I visited Butler University during their winter break to take a look at campus. As a Floridian, my first impression was, “wow it is COLD here.” As my mom and I drove up to the campus, the second thing I noticed was how disconnected the University felt from downtown Indianapolis. When I had pictured Butler, the image I had in mind was an urban school in the heart of Indy. This is not the reality. Instead, there is little in terms of shopping or dining walking distance from campus.
While exploring campus, we ducked into the campus store Starbucks to warm up and it just so happened that both baristas were dance majors. Here are my major takeaways from our conversation:
- The class size is large relative to other university ballet programs.
- The faculty is wonderful.
- Small but close knit campus life.
- They love performing with the orchestra.
- Butler is private and expensive (Most students have to work and are very busy. I personally received the largest scholarship offer from Butler and it was still my most expensive option.)
One other interesting thing that Butler has to offer is Sigma Rho Delta, a chapter of the dance honorary group. This contributes to a sense of community among members of the dance major programs at Butler.
Hopefully this has given you the information to help you make the tough decision about if Butler University Department of Dance is for you. If this wasn’t quite enough, check out my page about how to decide which school is right for you: Decision Help.