The Dance Theater Intensive is a unique eight-day program for advanced high school students that mixes the disciplines of dance, theater, music, and social activism. The program is geared towards students interested in exploring how the arts can raise awareness and consciousness regarding a variety of socially relevant themes. The program is open to rising high school juniors and seniors, and rising college freshmen. This program is not open to students under the age of 15 or students entering their freshman year of high school in the Fall.

Offered by UCLA's acclaimed dance and cultural studies faculty, the Dance Theater program includes daily movement classes ranging from postmodern dance to hip-hop, ensemble physical theater classes, as well as improvisation and composition that explore issues such as social justice and arts and civic engagement. The program will guide students as they investigate their roles as young artists through special sessions devoted to the idea of art as social action. Please keep in mind that this program is not drill team, competitive style, or commercial dance. It is not a theater or musical-theater camp, and does not involve any conservatory style dancing. However, there may be elements of any or all of the above forms included in the final performance piece depending on the artistic decisions made by the director that week.

After each intense and rigorous day of dancing, training, sharing and studying, the students return to their dorms and participate in fun and engaging activities, which also offer them the chance to explore the UCLA campus, Westwood Village, and get a taste of what it is like to live in a college dorm. Students will stay up late nights rehearsing and preparing as a group.

Students will benefit from the experience of collective creativity and collaboration as they apply their newly acquired skills to the preparation of an ensemble piece. Parents and friends are invited to attend this work-in-progress performance on the last day of the program. The process of creating relevant original dance theater and performing it together as a group forms bonds that will last much longer than the eight-day intensive.

Students who successfully complete the program receive 2 units of University of California credit. Each applicant must submit a Letter of Reference from a high school instructor or dance teacher verifying the ability to successfully participate in a disciplined, rigorous, and intensely emotional dance-theater program. You will be asked to submit the name of your referee and contact information at the time of registration. Please ask your referee to submit the letter via e-mail to this address within the weeks of registration. A decision will be made on your application in approximately 4 weeks after submission of your application and receipt of your teacher recommendation.

Due to the rigorous and intensely emotional nature of the program, the residential plan including supervision, a meal plan, and a schedule of activities is mandatory for all students. Students who are not able to live in residence halls and participate fully in each class, workshop, and activity will not be accepted into the program.  After their arrival, students who demonstrate that they are unable to participate fully in all sessions of the program will be subject to dismissal.

Due to the overwhelming demand and limited spaces available in this program, preference will be given to first-time applicants. Students who participated in the past who are applying to the program a second time will be admitted on a space available basis.

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