Embody Your Calling at Belhaven

Your future begins with an excellent education from Belhaven University. We’re nationally renowned for our arts programs and we invite you to develop and pursue your calling within our Christ-centered environment. Continue your education here to advance in technique, artistry, scholarship, and in your role as an artist of faith.

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Come Dance With Us!

World-Class Facilities

The Bitsy Irby Visual Arts and Dance Center, home to five professional dance studios and a studio theatre, is a state-of-the-art space for you to develop your craft.

Caring & Expert Faculty

Our faculty members teach from experience and lead with compassion. They'll encourage your growth and will help you to achieve your best in and out of the classroom.

Innovative Collaborations, Performances, & Choreography

We produce 7 dance concerts per year and students can audition to perform and present original choreography beginning in their first-year at Belhaven.

Inspiring Guest Artists

Each semester, Belhaven welcomes guest artists who teach master classes and choreograph for our dance concerts. These artists serve as mentors, offering a valuable window into the professional world of dance.

13:1 Students to Faculty

Our instructors know and care about you.

5 Dance Studios

Learn in sophisticated and thoughtfully designed spaces

MFA Degree Option

Continue your education with our master’s degree in dance

6 Fully Produced

Dance concerts per year

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National Accreditation

The Belhaven University Department of Dance is an accredited institutional member of the National Association of Schools of Dance (NASD). 

Importance of Accreditation

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A Celebrated Haven for Arts Education

Only 39 universities in the U.S. are accredited in all major arts. Belhaven is one. That means master classes, great performances, and national competitions. When you study art, dance, music, or theatre here, you’re earning a degree from a nationally recognized school for the arts.

See Our Accreditation

Undergraduate Dance: What You’ll Study

Bachelor of Fine Arts in Dance Curriculum

The Bachelor of Fine Arts (BFA) in Dance curriculum includes a minimum of 128 credit hours to include:

  • A minimum of 85 credits in dance (with a minimum of 34 credits of technical studies)
  • 21 credits of performance or choreography studies
  • 30 credits of dance studies (history, theory, body sciences, and career preparation)

Information for incoming freshman and transfer students:

Bachelor of Arts in Dance Curriculum

The Bachelor of Arts (B.A.) in Dance curriculum includes a minimum of 124 credit hours to include:

  • A minimum of 58 credits in dance (with a minimum of 22 credits of technical studies)
  • 7 credits of performance or choreography studies
  • 29 credits of dance studies (history, theory, body sciences, and career preparation)

Information for incoming freshman and transfer students:

Minor in Dance Curriculum

The Minor in Dance requires the completion of 24 credit hours:

  • DAN 147: Orientation to Dance (1 hour)
  • DAN 170: Improvisation I (1 hour)
  • A minimum of 18 credits of dance technique classes
  • Four credits of dance theory
Double major graduate

Double Major & Get Your 5th Year Free

Fuel your academic passions and expand your career options. Belhaven offers our freshmen a unique deal: double major, and we’ll pay the tuition if you need a fifth year in school. Double major in two arts programs, pair a business degree with a STEM major … the possibilities are endless!

More: Year 5 Free

Opportunities for Student Dancers

Doxa (in Greek: "Glory") is Belhaven's student-led dance organization. Its mission is to encourage dance students to further develop and use their art form for the glory of God. Each year, the group spponsors activities such as outreach, creative worship, prayer ministries, improvisation sessions, master classes, and workshops.

Students also attend regional and national dance festivals and anually produce the Doxa Emerging Choreographers Concert.

The Belhaven Dance Department offers a variety of performances that are open to the public and showcase dance students. These events include original choreographic works created by dance faculty members, seasoned guest artists, and students studying dance composition.

Dance students can join the National Honor Society for Dance Art (NHSDA). This group fosters unique networking opportunities and offers recognitions that will follow the student throughout their career.

Our dance program is one of the only programs in the nation with a full-time athletic trainer. This trainer focuses on injury care and prevention as part of our commitment to support the health of each dancer’s body, mind, and spirit.

Belhaven dance students — both majors and minors — can pursue a certification in Pilates, a form of exercise and body conditioning developed by Joseph Pilates. This certification, offered through Balanced Body, allows students to teach Pilates in group or one-on-one settings.

What Can I Do with a Degree in Dance?

Student dancers at Belhaven study:

  • Technique: Ballet, Modern, Pointe, Pas de Deux, Variations, Jazz, Tap, Contemporary Partnering, and Hip Hop
  • Dance History, Research, and Theory
  • Dance Kinesiology, Conditioning, and Injury Prevention
  • Dance Production
  • Dance Technology
  • Improvisation, Composition, and Choreography
  • Pedagogy and Teaching Methods

Our graduates go on to pursue successful careers in:

  • Dance Performance and Choreography
  • Dance Administration (Companies and Arts Organizations)
  • Dance Ministry and Global Missions
  • Dance Production
  • Teaching (Studios, Performing Arts Schools, Colleges, and Universities)

Some of our graduates choose to continue their dance education at Belhaven and pursue our Master of Fine Arts (MFA) in Dance degree, a 60-credit terminal degree.

Dance at Belhaven

To be considered for admission, students must first apply and be accepted to the university. Students must then complete the audition process. Upcoming audition dates include:

  • Saturday, Nov. 11, 2023 from 8 a.m. until 2 p.m.
  • Saturday, Feb. 10, 2024 from 8 a.m. until 2 p.m.

Students may also be able to audition through a video performance. For more information on this option, please contact the Dance Department at 601-965-1400 or by email at dance@belhaven.edu.

High school students ages 15 and up may apply for Belhaven’s dance apprentice program. Students in this program take university-level dance classes for college credit. The program is limited to six positions — selected through an interview and audition process — per academic year.

Visit from Professional Dancer & Belhaven Alum

Whitney Dufrene, a professional dancer living in NYC, came back to teach and connect with Belhaven dance students.

Contact Us

Office of Admission

Phone: 601-968-5940

Mailing Address:
1500 Peachtree Street, Box 153
Jackson, MS 39202

For campus visit:
Jimmy Hood Welcome Center
855 Riverside Drive
Jackson, MS 39202

Fax: 601-300-2932

admission@belhaven.edu

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Verse of the Year

God is working in you, giving you the desire and the power to do what pleases Him.

Philippians 2:13