Dance
Make new work
The making of original work is at the center of dance at Bennington as it has been since the founding of the College in 1932. Bennington College has an enduring commitment to dance as a vital, serious art form integral to a liberal arts education. For nearly a century, through all its different eras, the dance program has provided a solid foundation for innovation and progressive thinking in the field at large.
Every facet of today’s unique program—technical practice, somatic study, improvisational and compositional research, peer and faculty collaboration, interdisciplinary investigation, design, production and performance—works to expand students' understanding of the creative process and deepen their awareness and articulation of their thinking and moving body. It places their creative work in a cultural and historical context.
From the first year, students begin making dances immediately. Over the next four years, they make and perform new work, whether their own or in collaboration with others. At the weekly Dance Workshop, students of all levels, from first-year to graduate, gather with the full faculty to show and respond to works-in-progress. Students are encouraged to participate in all aspects of production and have on-going support to experiment in a variety of spaces (available around the clock), from the remarkable formal theater and intimate studios to alternative site-specific locations.
Whether dance plays a central or supporting role in their education, students are invited to collaborate, make new work, show it, talk about it, revise it and perform it again.
Learn more about studying at Bennington by contacting our admissions office
At Bennington, students work closely with faculty to design the content, structure, and sequence of their study and practice—their Plan—taking advantage of the College's resources both inside and outside the classroom to pursue their work.
Faculty
Our faculty of renowned professional choreographers and dancers, dedicated to contemporary practices, seek out guest artists and seasoned graduate fellows who propel the art forward. This constantly changing roster has included emergent artists from Asia, West Africa, Eastern and Western Europe, and the U.S.
Field Work Term
Bennington’s annual Field Work Term invites you to forge connections with the outside dance world by way of the College’s well-established professional network, its expansive roster of alumni dancers, and its outstanding reputation as an iconic American dance institution.
- Adaptations Dance Theater
- Albert S. Ruddy Productions
- Alliance for Young Artists & Writers
- American Contemporary Ballet
- American Realness
- Art and Cultural Studies Laboratory
- Balance Arts Center
- Bill T. Jones Dance Company
- Brooklyn Gypsies
- Cleveland Play House, The
- Contemporary Dance Theater
- Eleanor Bauer, Choreographer
- Elena Demyanenko
- Everett Company, Stage, and School
- Mark Morris Dance Group
- Martha Graham Dance Company
- Mendocino Center for Circus Arts
- Movement Research
- North Shore Dance Therapy
- Prop Thtr
- Trisha Brown Dance Company
- Theatre Without Borders
Alumni
Strong, focused, determined—our alumni make their own work, win awards, and define excellence in the field. The Bessie Dance and Performance Awards were named for a Bennington alumna, Bessie Schönberg.
Choreographer and MacArthur “Genius Grant” recipient with commissions from many prestigious institutions
Choreographer, performer, teacher, and recipient of the national Jacob K. Javits Fellowship in Dance, having trained and performed under the direction of American Ballet Theater principal ballerina Karena Brock Carlyle
Former principal dancer and current artistic director of the Limón Dance Company
Bessie and Alpert award-winning dance-maker, improvisational performer, and collaborative artist who developed an approach to real-time editing, “attentionography,” and performance she calls Tuning Scores
Co-artistic director of Bridgman | Packer Dance and 2008 Guggenheim Award winner
Former Chair of Dance at Bard College and choreographer and dancer at the Judson Dance Theatre
Member of Trisha Brown Dance Company in the 1970s, choreographer, former editor-in-chief of Dance Magazine, and author of Through the Eyes of a Dancer
Guggenheim, Bessie, and Alpert Award-winning choreographer and dancer
Dancer and choreographer who worked with Andy De Groat, Bill T. Jones, David Gordon, and Wendy Perron and whose own choreography was presented at the Dance Theater Workshop and the 14th Street Dance Center in Manhattan
Emmy, Tony, and Drama Desk Award-winning choreographer and director of musical theater, film, and television whose work runs the gamut from performing in West Side Story on Broadway, directing Cindy Lauper and Rolling Stones videos, and choreographing numbers for Saturday Night Live
Performer, choreographer, and Senior Lecturer Emerita of Dance at Middlebury College
Former performer and associate artistic director of Elizabeth Streb’s Ringside company, known for its athletic, gravity-defying choreography, whose own Bessie award-winning work has been performed at Danspace, Dance Theater Workshop, and other high-profile venues
Photograph © Lois Greenfield
Winner of the Guggenheim and Doris Duke Artist Awards for her innovative dance performance and choreography
Renowned choreographer of works performed by Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater and the New York City Ballet
Dancer, choreographer, and founder of Risa Jaroslow & Dancers, who is dedicated to including diverse communities as participants and audiences, developing teaching techniques to engage dancers of all levels and people of all ages and abilities
Performance curator, producer, poet, choreographer, and performance artist
Dancer who has performed with the Trisha Brown Dance Company, choreographed for her own company and independently, taught at universities and arts centers, and written reviews, features, and essays on dance for a variety of publications
