The MTSU Dance Program educates and trains burgeoning dancers and dance scholars for careers in the fields of performance, choreography, pedagogy, and scholarship.
By offering coursework that respects the history and traditions of dance, the program exposes students to new work that is being developed throughout the complex and multifaceted field of Dance performance and Dance Studies in the US and around the world.
Along with performance opportunities and involvement in festivals, workshops, and master classes, the program brings students from the classroom and the studio to the stage and the community, ensuring both a rigorous training and an in-depth exposure to current trends in Dance within local and international settings.
Photos by Martin O’Conner
• has a highly respected, preprofessional curriculum
• offers courses instructed by nationally and internationally recognized faculty that prepare students for careers in dance
• is the home of the MTSU Dance
Theatre, which has toured regionally, nationally, and internationally
• offers unique opportunities for students to work with renowned guest artists
• offers a close-knit community for students
• works in conjunction with the
Theatre Program to produce performances on campus.
Contact Us: www.mtsu.edu/dance
Marsha Barsky - Director
Phone: (615) 494-7995
Fax: (615) 898-5826
Email: marsha.barsky@mtsu.edu
Mail: Box 43
Middle Tennessee State University
Murfreesboro TN 37126
www.mtsu.edu/dance

We offer the following technique courses: Contemporary Modern
Dance, Ballet, Jazz, Tap and West
African Dance; studio work in
Choreography and Somatics; and theory-based classes relating to the history and criticism of Dance.
The Dance Cognate is an 18- hour course of study connected to a
Theatre Concentration in the
Department of Speech and Theatre.
A Bachelor of Science in Liberal
Studies with a dance emphasis is available through the University
College for students who wish to pursue a more individualized course of study in dance.
Students seeking a cognate or B.S. in Liberal Studies are typically preparing for performance careers, graduate school, or teaching.
The Minor in Dance is an 18-hour course of study that emphasizes cultural, social and historical aspects of dance.
The three years I spent with MTSU's Dance Program fostered a sense of diligence, artistry, thoughtfulness, vision, creativity and scholarship, and a genuine pursuit towards growth." - Julie Edwards, 2010 Alumni
MTSU Dance Program is pleased to host a wide range of nationally and internationally recognized Guest Artist residencies. Guest artists make meaningful contributions to the development and growth of our students throughout the year.
Spring 2014 Guest Artists:
• Teena Marie Custer – b-girl and hip-hop dance theatre artist based in Pittsburgh,
PA
• Jesse Zaritt - dances for Faye Driscoll and
Netta Yerushalmy and recieved three
New York Innovative Theater Awards for his solo “Binding”
Recent Guest Artists:
• Heidi Schill Clemmens
• Angie Simmons and Amy Shelly
• Stefanie Batton-Bland
• T. Lang
• Cynthia Gutierrez Garner
• Alwin Nikolais Resdiency, Alberto Del Saz
• In May 2012, seven students in the
MTSU Dance Theatre traveled to China to perform works in Hangzhou City and
Beijing.
• MTSU Dance Theatre was selected by a panel of internationally recognized adjudicators for inclusion in the
American College Dance Festival
Association Gala Concert in 2007,
2008, and 2010. o MTSU is the only non-major program in the nation to have this distinction.
• MTSU Dance Theatre was selected to present work at Breaking Ground
Dance Festival held in Tempe, AZ in
2008-2010.
• In 2011, MTSU Dance Theatre participated in the Nikolais Legacy
Project and performed Nikolais’ master work, Pond at Hunter College in New
York.