Curriculum

This program carries quarter units of Pass/No Pass UC credit.

Students will be engaged in a collaborative theater-making process that includes both dancing and acting. Working within a set framework that will focus on inter-culturalism and utilizing interdisciplinary themes and strategies, the process allows for and encourages both small group and individual talents and contributions to emerge, while also maintaining the spirit of ensemble.

Click here to view a sample schedule of activities.

About the Department

The Department was created in 1995 by the merger of the World Arts and Cultures program and UCLA’s Dance Department, the first university-based dance department in the country. The department is home to a diverse faculty of artists and scholars, drawn from a range of disciplines, including anthropology, folklore, dance, theater and performance studies. The department’s lively interdisciplinary curriculum is unified around a set of shared concerns: the significance of cultural and aesthetic diversity, both locally and worldwide; the meaning of tradition in contemporary societies; and the changing roles and responsibilities of artists.

World Arts and Cultures is an ideal environment for artists, scholars and activists interested in exploring the meaning of creative expression in the contemporary world and for dancers and choreographers seeking to expand and challenge the cultural, intellectual and political horizons of their own practice.

The undergraduate program offers concentrations in dance and in world arts and cultures. The graduate program offers Master of Arts and Ph.D. degrees in Culture and Performance, and a Master of Fine Arts in Dance. One set of degrees encompasses research on communities, cultures, and transnational movements including arts traditions and innovations, arts activism, and interdisciplinary art-making. Another set of degrees provides dance education with a difference, offering opportunities to engage multiple dance practices, intercultural dance studies, civic engagement, and choreographic research.   Core faculty include Donald J. Cosentino, Irma Dosamantes-Beaudry, Susan Foster, Dan Froot, David Gere, Angelia Leung (Co-Chair), Victoria Marks, Judy Mitoma, Peter Nabokov, Janet O'Shea, Allen F. Roberts, Mary (Polly) Nooter Roberts, David Roussève, David Delgado Shorter, Peter Sellars, Christopher Waterman, and Cheng-Chieh Yu.  In addition to its core faculty, WAC plays host to an impressive and constantly shifting array of visiting faculty.

Students in this program will be enrolled in WAC 174: Projects in WAC, 2 units.

Grades

Program participants will earn two units of UCLA academic course credit using the Pass/No Pass grading system. Letter grades are not awarded for this program. Please note that your official transcript is not automatically sent to you. Click here to view more information about UCLA grading policies and how to acquire grade transcripts.

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