Our Mission

The Santa Monica College Dance Department mission is to prepare the serious dance student for university transfer and to provide dance training for both the beginning to advanced dancer. The Program offers a comprehensive curriculum with a broad range of dance courses to nurture versatile dance artists. The Dance Department encourages students to think independently, and to value creative thought and diversity.

Many of SMC dance faculty are recognized performing artists and choreographers. Several have been recognized by such major arts organizations as the National Endowment for the Arts, California Arts Council, the Durfee Foundation and the Dance Resource Center of Greater Los Angeles.

The Dance Department’s goal is to prepare students for success in future careers in performance, choreography, teaching, and related careers in dance. The program offers a wide array of dance classes designed to cultivate technique, creativity and performance skills. Classes include modern, ballet, choreography, jazz, tap, ballroom, dance production, and performance, dance history, music for dance and world dance forms; African, Brazilian, Flamenco, Mexican, Middle Eastern, Indonesian and Salsa. Classes are accompanied by some of the finest dance musicians in the Los Angeles area.

The Santa Monica College Dance Department regularly hosts master classes by local and nationally acclaimed guest artists through SMC’s Masters of Dance Series.

SMC’s Dance Department has two performance companies: Synapse Contemporary Dance Ensemble and Folklorico de SMC. Each student company performs full stage productions every semester. Additionally, the companies perform throughout the Los Angeles community, the U.S at the regional America College Dance Festival and abroad at the Asociacion National de Grupos Folklorico.