Contemporary Dance

Contemporary Dance students work across genres with outstanding guest professionals to develop choreographic material for performance, analyze dance traditions and practices from a variety of perspectives, and explore creative ways of engaging with the public through dance. You consider diverse understandings of the body and virtuosity and explore issues of class, race, ethnicity, gender, and sexuality. At Lang, dancing is not merely supplemental to your academic work; rather, it is engaged as a mode of research, a vehicle for experience, and a source of embodied knowledge.

Our curriculum incorporates multiple academic disciplines and enables you to study dance in relation to other fields such as history, anthropology, psychology, politics, and environmental studies. You also have the opportunity to take courses in other parts of The New School, including Parsons School of Design and the College of Performing Arts.

Major requirements

Minor requirements

Connecting to New York City

While it offers the atmosphere and intimacy of a small college, Eugene Lang College is part of The New School, a major progressive university in New York City. Our campus location in the heart of Greenwich Village allows contemporary dance students to engage with major dance archives and performance spaces, working alongside some of the field's most adventurous dancers, choreographers, and scholars.

• Attend performances with your professors at institutions including major cultural centers such as Lincoln Center, The Joyce Theater, Brooklyn Academy of Music, the Museum of Modern Art, and PS1, as well as experimental venues including Danspace Project, Judson Memorial Church, and The Kitchen.
• Perform dances choreographed by renowned New York City professionals serving as artists-in-residence.
• Study the relationship between dance and the visual arts in a course called Black Boxes and White Cubes, in partnership with the New Museum and its resident choreographers.
• Teach dance to middle school students through the seminar Dance in Education.
• Benefit from ongoing partnerships with Movement Research, New York Live Arts, and the Jerome Robbins Dance Division at the New York Public Library for the Performing Arts - organizations committed to experimentation in the movement-based arts.

Career Paths

Contemporary Dance graduates go on to launch successful careers as award-winning performers and choreographers, arts administrators, educators, and writers. They pursue advanced studies in choreography and performance, critical dance studies, performance studies, and fields such as critical race theory, gender and sexuality studies, and visual studies. Consult our 4-Year Lang Career Pathways Map (PDF) for helpful steps and resources to link your academic journey to your future plans.

If you are planning to pursue graduate studies in a related field, consider majoring in The Arts and applying to the Bachelor's-Master's program, which enables you to earn graduate credits that will apply to both your Lang degree and a graduate degree in liberal studies at The New School for Social Research.

Outcomes at Lang