Bates College Modern Dance Company

Bates College Modern Dance Company is a non-competitive performing group in which students have the opportunity to create and perform their own work as well as to experience working with guest choreographers. A typical year in the Bates Dance Modern Dance Company involves several concerts, as well as choreographic residencies with a number of guest artists. These artists each come for an intensive residency to choreograph a piece for the company. The company then performs these pieces, along with student made works, in concerts throughout the year. The members of the company are those students who are the core creators and performers in the concerts. No audition is necessary to be in the Bates College Modern Dance Company.

Creation of Works

Student Choreography
Students have a number of opportunities to create dance works during the year. Generally, this process begins with the Dance Composition class in which students learn compositional tools and make a complete dance piece by the end of the semester. However, after completing the course, there is no limit to the choreographic opportunities available in the Bates Dance Program. The program also offers plenty of opportunities for other dancers to perform in student choreographed works.

Guest Choreography
A number of guest choreographers with national and international reputations come to work with the Bates Dance Program each year. These choreographers teach repertory pieces which the company performs in a variety of concerts during the year. The company is proud to have worked with many gifted artists. Generally, these works are created during a two week residency; the students in the piece experience a unique creative process and other students have an opportunity to take classes with the guest artists during their stay.

Faculty Choreography
The faculty of the Bates Dance Program also contribute choreographic works to be performed by students in various concerts throughout the year.

Service Learning
The Bates Dance Program assists students in creating ties with the local community through a variety of activities: teaching dance in the schools, volunteering in community centers, and working with the Bates Dance Festival Youth Arts Program.