Welcome to the

Department of Dance

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Webster University’s Department of Dance is housed in The Leigh Gerdine College of Fine Arts.

This department provides excellence in training through both the BA and BFA Degrees.


Webster University’s Department of Dance offers a broad spectrum of concert dance forms:

•the exploration of the inherent traditionalism of classical ballet

•the risk-taking avant-garde flavor of modern dance

•the wonderful theatricality of jazz and tap


Dance Majors choose to emphasize either Ballet or Modern, but receive a thorough understanding of the world of dance.  The goal of the department is to prepare students for careers in performance, choreography, private instruction, and for entrance into master of fine arts (MFA) programs.

Webster University ~ 470 East Lockwood Avenue ~ St. Louis, MO 63119-3194 U.S.A. Top of Pageshapeimage_2_link_0

Photo: Eric Woolsey

Photo: Claudia Burris

Webster University Department of Dance Presents Dynamism

The Webster University Department of Dance will present Dynamism at 8pm on Friday, April 19 and Saturday, April 20 in the Jean and Wells Hobler Center for Dance. Dynamism is senior dance major Ashley McQueen’s culminating choreographic concert and will include athletic contemporary movement, acrobatic site-specific dance, and live musicians. The performance is open to the public and admission is free.  (See Poster, below)


Congratulations to Webster Dance’s Michael Uthoff for his 2013 St. Louis Arts Award from the Arts and Education Council for Excellence in the Arts!


Spring Master Classes


Announcing: Registration now open for Webster’s Summer Dance Intensive,

July 29 - August 2, 2013 (download REGISTRATION PDF form)

(or Download an older Word.doc version of this form Note: Once downloaded, you must open this Word document from your Downloads Folder)


Activity Release Form - Webster’s Summer Dance Intensive, July 29 - August 2, 2013

(download PDF form)

FOX Performing Arts Charitable Foundation invests in University’s Dance Demo Webster University’s Department of Dance is very pleased to announce that it has completed another successful year of the Dance Demo, an arts education and outreach program that has been serving local high schools for the past three years. Since 2009, the FOX Performing Arts Charitable Foundation has supported the Dance Demo program with annual grants. In November 2011, the Foundation awarded Webster University’s Dance Demo with its first Multiple Year grant, providing $3,000 per year for 2012, 2013, and 2014 activities. During the Spring of 2012, University City High School students and four Webster University Dance Demo Fellows focused on improvisation and hip hop.  University City shared their knowledge of hip-hop and Webster University focused on improvisational tools used in choreography.  The students worked cooperatively and collaboratively, creating a movement score during the many workshops held at University City High School.  The experience was engaging and culminated successfully in a dynamic performance for both schools. 2011 -- Thank you to FOX Performing Arts Charitable Foundation for generously supporting our 2011 Dance Demo Workshops at Kirkwood High School. Add our Webster University Dance Demo 2011 fan page on Facebook and follow our blog.http://www.facebook.com/pages/Webster-Dance-Demo/374875584121?sk=wallhttp://wudancedemo2011.blogspot.comshapeimage_3_link_0shapeimage_3_link_1

Thank you to FOX Performing Arts Charitable Foundation for generously

supporting our 2012 Dance Demo Workshops at University City High School.


Add our Webster University Dance Demo 2012 fan page on Facebook and follow our blog to see our progress!

 

Webster University Department of Dance welcomes

James Robey as Assistant Professor of Dance

August of 2012

James Robey is Artistic Director of James Robey Dance, a member of the National Dance Education Organization, a member of Phi Kappa Phi Honor Society, and is author and creator of the Robey Jazz Dance Technique and Syllabus™. He has been a faculty member in the dance programs at The Hartt School/University of Hartford, the University of Akron, Long Island High School for Performing Arts, Naugatuck Valley Community College, Manhattan Motion Dance Studios, Broadway Dance Center and served as Director of Ridgefield Conservatory of Dance for over 10 years. 


Along with creating over 30 new works for James Robey Dance since 1998, he has choreographed for the Ridgefield Symphony Orchestra's productions of "Histoire du Soldat" and Benjamin Britton’s “Dances from Gloriana”, the 5x5 Dance Festival at St. Joseph's College, CT Meets NY Dance Fest at Dance New Amsterdam in NYC, Ridgefield 300: A Concert Celebration, Locust Contemporary Dance Works, Zig Zag Ballet's “A Celebration of Men in Dance” in Vermont, Connecticut, and New York, and choreographed original works for Full Force Dance Theatre, Ohio Dance Theatre, Wellesley College, Naugatuck Valley Community College, and Artists for Peace. James is a two-time finalist in the Leo's Choreography Competitive Event at the Jazz Dance World Congress in Buffalo and Chicago. 


His professional performing career included the Metropolitan Opera Ballet Company, Connecticut Ballet, New York Dance Theater, Ground Works

Dance Theater, Off Center Dance Theater, Ohio Dance Theater, Covenant Ballet Theater of Brooklyn, Cleveland Opera, Disney World, Tokyo Disneyland, Norwegian Cruise Lines, and Busch Gardens. James has served on the Board of Directors of the Connecticut Dance Alliance; on Connecticut Ballet's Danbury Dance Initiative Task Force; on the creative team behind the Young Choreographer’s Festival in Stamford, CT; and presented papers and workshops at the National Dance Education Organization’s National Conferences, at the Hawaii University International Conferences on Art and Humanities, and at Advancing Creative Thinking: Imagination to Innovation. In addition, James has taught master classes throughout the U.S., Guam, Canada, and Japan.