I'm a junior in high school and I've been looking at different colleges that I want to go to. I would love to go to a college that has a ballroom dancing program of some kind besides ones that have a club that meets twice a week or something. I have been thinking that I might want to minor in teaching dance so….. Any suggestions would be greatly like appreciated! Thanks!!

Brigham Young University in Utah has a very well-established ballroom program. There's also another college in Utah that does, but I can't remember the name right now.

I love to dance, and if I had had this love at your age, Ballroom Teen, I might well be interested in the possibility of teaching ballroom dancing. But if I could bring to bear the perspective of extensive exposure to higher education (I'm a Ph.D.) and age (68), I seriously doubt that, were I a college student (again), I would want to expend the money (tuition and room and board, books and various fees -- plus the lost opportunity to use the time involved for class and study for earning money) for college courses on doing and/or on teaching ballroom dancing. I don't see the return. I would pursue my interest in ballroom dancing through other avenues as the way opens. I would use college courses, to the extent possible, to acquire knowledge and competencies for which there be a good prospect of a favorable financial return on the investment of time and money.

Best wishes -- jb

I want to start by saying that I disagree with jpbdance. While I can certainly understand that point of view, there are many professional dancers who took it very seriously and have accomplished great things. From the sounds of it, you are on the right track. Getting a minor in dance instruction is a great way to pursue dance, but major in something that may be more useful to you in the interim. (By day, I am a legal assistant, by night, a ballroom dancer.) Also, where are you looking to go to school? Out west? In the South? Northeast?

P.S. Here is an interesting link that I found. http://www.teachballroomdancing.com/index.html

Hi! I'm a senior in high school, and I'm so in love with ballroom dancing; I plan to dance for the rest of my life. For my college, I'm planning on going to Columbia College in Chicago and majoring in dance. Their dance program is majorly focused on ballet and modern, but there is also ballroom dance classes available. On top of that there are courses in jazz, hip hop, asain dance, and african dance! I'm so excited and can't wait to broaden my horizons in the world of dance. Ballroom will always be my forte, but i cant wait to learn more!

You sound like a " dancer " of the future !!-- lot of bumps, in the road ahead-- hang in there-- you will make it .

You might be interested in e-mailing Andy Wong and asking him some questions. Andy was a successful pharmacist who learned to dance through the University of British Columbia's Ballroom Dance Club.

He gave up being a pharmacist to pursue his passion and owns the "Grand Ballroom" a full sized studio:

http://www.grandballroom.com/

I think the other university in UTAH is the BYU Campus at Provo.

You could also Google "Dian(n)e Jarmalow" who runs a teacher training school in San Francisco affiliated with DanceVision.

Hope this helps.

OB

I know the University of Illinois at Champaign-Urbana is big on ballroom. We're going to a collegiate comp there next month.

I used to coach the urbanas teacher , from time to time--excellent studio and a very fine teacher, also coached several of the grad. students.

BYU, is probably the one with most recognition .--- it has had huge success with its Formation team . Scholarships I think, are available in dance .

Actually, BYU is in Provo, Utah. The other college someone referenced is Utah Valley State College (UVSC), in the neighboring town of Orem.
Their program, while not quite as good as BYU's, is still stellar. In years that BYU does not go to Blackpool, UVSC does, and they clean up as regularly as BYU does. When they do go to the same competitions, BYU generally comes out on top, but UVSC is never far behind!

(Both have scholarships, but if you are female, and haven't been dancing since you were 10, I wouldn't count on a ballroom scholarship.)

Also, majoring in ballroom dance is no more useless than majoring in, say, English, History, or practically anything other than Engineering. Take it from someone else well-versed in higher-ed: most students don't work in anything related to their major, and most people change careers many times over the course of their lives.

So, you might as well study something you love. You'll be required to take other courses as well, and you'd do well to take some business courses.

I'd also recommend checking into placements for their graduates. What would your goal be in majoring in ballroom? Do you want to teach? Perform? Open your own studio? Whatever it is, is that a result that their graduates obtain?