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About Us
The Ballet Department at the University of Utah has a history of excellence dating from 1951. In this
groundbreaking year, Willam F. Christensen -- noted dancer, teacher, and founder of the San Francisco
Ballet Company -- returned to his native Utah and founded one of the first ballet programs in an
American university.
Faculty and graduates of the University of Utah's Ballet Department were fundamental in the formation and
growth of Ballet West, one of three major professional dance companies in Salt Lake City. Through the
excellence and professional success of our faculty, students, and alumni, the Department of Ballet continues
to attract a cosmopolitan enrollment of students from all 50 states and abroad. Many alumni are currently
dancing professionally, or working as dance teachers and administrators in colleges, universities and other
educational and professional organizations throughout the world.
The Ballet Department is housed in the Alice Sheets Marriott Center for Dance, built in 1989. This center is
a beautiful and outstanding facility built specifically for dance.
Curriculum
Opportunities abound for personal development at the University of Utah through intensive daily technique
classes, pointe, variations, and men's classes tailored to the student's technique level. The department
also offers vital experiences for students to develop artistically and creatively through numerous performances
and choreographic opportunities.
The faculty is committed to teaching a wide spectrum of courses; and the department offers a curriculum
designed to develop dancers who are versatile, technically articulate, and well prepared for their futures.
To accomplish this level of expertise, the curriculum includes courses in repertory and performance skills;
partnering; pedagogy; music; character dance; ballet history; choreography; modern dance; kinesiology;
dance conditioning; and technical theatre/lighting. While professional preparation and training is the main
focus of undergraduate study, students also receive an excellent general education from exceptional teachers
at the University of Utah in the physical sciences, social and behavioral sciences, fine arts, and humanities.
Contributing to a rich inner life are collaborative arts experiences within the college, and opportunities for
internships and outreach activities.
Production Support
The Ballet Department has excellent production support that includes an outstanding technical production
faculty and staff to oversee and facilitate performances, create stunning costumes for three-act classical
ballets and contemporary works, and maintain the 330-seat Hayes-Christensen Theater and a fully equipped costume shop.
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