Dance Program’s Home page

Dance at WSU has been a vital part of the fine and performing arts since the 1920s. Shortly after the first dance major was established at the University of Wisconsin in 1926, dance became a part of life at the University of Wichita, through the Orchesis Club.

Native Wichitans Alice and Elizabeth Sherbon brought vitality and professional focus to dance in Kansas in the 1930s. invited to teach at the Bennington Summer School of Dance by noted dance educator Martha Hill, the Sherbon sisters worked closely with modern dance pioneer Martha Graham, teaching classes at Graham's New York School and performing with the Martha Graham Dance Company. They returned to Kansas to bring a new focus to dance at the University of Wichita and the University of Kansas.

Today, WSU's dance program is the only nationally accredited program in dance in Kansas. A member of the National Association of Schools of Dance (NASD) since 1986, the WSU dance program focuses on performance and choreography. Students learn in a program that features extensive training in modern, ballet, jazz, tap, choreography, dance theory, and production. The faculty seeks to train versatile Professional dancers who understand the craft of dance as a performing art in order to establish careers as performers, choreographers, and educators. The School of performing Arts oversees this professional dance degree program.

Each year the WSU dance program and the resident faculty-student company, Mid-America Dance Theatre, present the fall Kansas Dance Festival, a spring concert, and various student concerts, and sponsor internationally known guest artists and companies for master classes, workshops, and performances. Recent guests include Garth Fagan, the Martha Graham Ensemble, Dallas Black Dance Theatre, Jose' Limon Dance Company, and the Cleo Parker Robinson Dance Ensemble.

The dance program offers more than $10,000 in undergraduate scholarships each year to new and continuing students.