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Butler University
Butler University is most proud of its tradition of excellence and innovation. Challenging and enabling students to meet their personal and professional goals has guided the University since 1855. Today, Butler is an independent, coeducational, nonsectarian university, with a total undergraduate enrollment of more than 3,800 students. The University is accredited by the North Central Association of Colleges and Schools.
Butler’s reputation as one of the finest university dance programs in the nation continues, with a department offering the serious dance student professional-level training with a broad approach to liberal arts education. The Department of Dance was among the first in the nation to offer a dance major centered on ballet technique. Many of its graduates have gone on to prestigious professional careers as dancers, teachers, choreographers, managers, and writers.
Dance majors acquire a strong technical training based on the central focus of ballet; versatility in other techniques; the opportunity to perform extensively in a preprofessional company; broad exposure to academic subjects in dance and other arts; and skills in writing, speaking, and analysis from the humanities, mathematics, and science.
Campus and Surroundings Indianapolis, Indiana’s state capital and the twelfth-largest city in the nation, boasts a variety of cultural activities, including the Indianapolis Symphony Orchestra, Dance Kaleidoscope, Indiana Repertory Theatre, the Indianapolis Museum of Art, the Eiteljorg Museum, and the world’s largest children’s museum. Citywide celebrations are plentiful, including ethnic festivals, art fairs, and outdoor music festivals.
Program Facilities The five dance studios in Lilly Hall are equipped with state-of-the-art resilient L’Air modular flooring, barres and mirrors, pianos, and abundant audiovisual equipment. A new performing arts complex is currently under construction. The first phase of the complex, a 47,000-square-foot addition to Lilly Hall called the Courtyard Building, was completed in spring 2003. This new building houses a choral rehearsal hall, an instrumental rehearsal hall, dance studios, a theater studio, an electronic music lab, and a percussion studio. The second phase, the 140-seat Eidson-Duckwall Recital Hall, was completed in fall 2004. The third phase is a 450-seat performance hall/proscenium theater with adjustable acoustical features.
Butler Ballet performs three-to-four productions each year on campus in Clowes Memorial Hall to a total audience of more than 20,000. Clowes Hall, the hub of performing arts at Butler, also presents an extensive array of local, national, and international companies each season.
Faculty/Alumni Butler’s highly qualified teachers are artist-scholars who combine broad educational backgrounds with professional performing careers, in-depth study, choreography, and teaching in the United States, Europe, and Asia. Their diversity, expertise, and experience contribute to the scope of the program. Faculty members provide a direct link to the important developments of dance not only in America, but worldwide. They are soloists, artistic directors, certified movement analysts, principal dancers, ballet masters, and ballet mistresses. Recent graduates are performing with the American Repertory Ballet, Atlanta Ballet, Ballet Arizona, Ballet Austin, Boston Ballet, Dance Kaleidoscope, Dance Theatre of Harlem, Georgia Ballet, San Diego Ballet, The Producers' National Tour, and the Broadway production and national tour of Movin' Out.
Student Performance Opportunities The Butler Ballet is a preprofessional company offering extensive opportunities for performance. The annual presentation of The Nutcracker has been an Indianapolis family tradition for more than twenty years. The company also presents full-length classical ballets, such as Swan Lake, Giselle, Sleeping Beauty, Cinderella, or Coppelia.
Occasionally, the Butler Ballet produces an original contemporary full-length work such as The Messiah or Gustav Holst’s The Planets. In spring 2003, the company presented the world premiere of a new full-length ballet called The Willow Maiden.
The company performs in Clowes Memorial Hall, the University’s 2,200-seat performance hall, which is rated among the top facilities in the region. Butler Ballet performs with a number of symphonies, notably the Indianapolis Chamber Orchestra. For more than thirty years, the company has toured regionally, providing a unique experience for the students.
Special Programs Degrees in dance require 136 credit hours, including study in three areas: technique, performance, and dance academics. Butler is one of very few schools accredited to offer a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree in performance. Butler also offers a Bachelor of Arts in dance-pedagogy and a Bachelor of Science in dance-arts administration. Students may also opt to have dance as a secondary major or minor.
Cooperative Agreements Butler University has collaborative relationships with many local arts organizations, including the Indianapolis Opera. The following collaborative groups are located on campus: Dance Kaleidoscope, Indianapolis Symphonic Choir, Indianapolis Chamber Orchestra, American Pianists Association, and the Indianapolis Children’s Choir.
Career Placement Services and Opportunities Graduates of the dance department excel as dancers, teachers, choreographers, and artistic directors with professional, semi-professional, and regional companies as well as on Broadway or in musical theater and film productions. Some work for universities and private studios while others combine their knowledge with other artistic disciplines to become photographers or designers of costumes, sets, and lighting. Arts management or dance research and criticism are additional career choices. Graduates qualify for a wide variety of careers due to the diverse curricula and personalized advising from Butler’s faculty members. The University’s Center for Career Planning and Development and the Department of Dance both play an active role in assisting dance majors with job opportunities.
Application ProceduresDeadline--freshmen and transfers: continuous. Required: essay, high school transcript, college transcript(s) for transfer students, minimum 2.0 high school GPA, letter of recommendation, audition, SAT I or ACT test scores, 5x7 photo in dance attire and appropriate pose (for male dancer: attitude derriére, female dancer: arabesque on pointe). Recommended: minimum 3.0 high school GPA, interview, portfolio. Auditions held 18 times on campus; videotaped performances are permissible as a substitute for live auditions when residence is outside contiguous 48 states. Portfolio reviews held on campus.
Undergraduate ContactKathy Lang, Admission Representative, Jordan College of Fine Arts, Butler University, Lilly Hall - 138B, 4600 Sunset Avenue, Indianapolis, Indiana 46208; 317-940-9656, fax: 317-940-9658.
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