The MFA in Dance with Screendance named option is a 60-credit, two-year program with a summer term in between academic years. It is the first terminal degree in Screendance nationally that offers a comprehensively and professionally focused curriculum. Creative artists admitted to this program, for whom screendance is their primary focus of their MFA, will gain the critical, aesthetic, technical, and interdisciplinary tools needed to innovate, create, and lead in the rapidly evolving global screendance field.
This in-residence, on campus MFA program has intentionally small cohorts and is highly selective. Students entering the UW–Madison MFA in Dance program are offered tuition remission, generous monthly stipends, access to UW–Madison health benefits, and other annual funding opportunities. Students are assigned assistantships within their first year of study, which may be a Teaching Assistantship (TA) or Lecturing Student Assistantship (LSA) or Project Assistantship (PA).
“Screendance is the orchestration of the choreography of the camera, the choreography of what is in front of the camera and the choreography developed in the edit” (Professor Omari Carter, Dance).
It is the “literal construction of a choreography that lives only as it is rendered in either film, video or digital technologies” it “is never truly fixed as a live performance might be…it is always in the process of becoming” (Professor Douglas Rosenberg, Art).
Photo: Scenes from “The Sea” a film directed by Douglas Rosenberg, photo by Jessica Lindgren-Wu.
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ADMISSIONS
Graduate admissions is a two-step process between academic programs and the Graduate School. Applicants must meet the minimum requirements of the Graduate School and the Dance Department’s requirements. All prospective Dance MFA students must apply directly to the University of Wisconsin-Madison Graduate School. The Dance Department requires a separate application.
Deadlines
Sep 3: Application Opens
Dec 1 : Application Closes
Mid-Jan: Finalist Candidate interviews
Feb 1: Offers made, waitlisted candidates also notified
April 15: Deadline to accept
The program does not offer admission in the spring or summer.
We are currently unable to admit any new International graduate students– this is a temporary pause for Fall 2026 admissions due to a delay in the federal review of our updated Form I-17, which is a required step in our university’s ability to enroll international students.
Application Requirements
Graduate School Application
Transcripts
2 letters of recommendation
Application Fee
Test scores* (if applicable, see below)
Dance Department Application:
Artist Statement
Portfolio
Resume or CV
*English Proficiency
Every applicant whose native language is not English, or whose undergraduate instruction was not exclusively in English, must provide an English proficiency test score earned within two years of the anticipated term of enrollment, see Minimum Requirements for Admission policy.
*GRE
NOT required
FUNDING
Students entering the UW–Madison MFA in Dance program are offered tuition remission, generous monthly stipends, access to UW–Madison health benefits, and other annual funding opportunities. Students are assigned assistantships within their first year of study, which may be a Teaching Assistantship (TA) or Lecturing Student Assistantship (LSA) or Project Assistantship (PA).
REQUIREMENTS
MFA DANCE, SCREENDANCE named option
Total credits: 60 credits
Minimum residence credit requirement: 30 credits
Annual Review: Students will participate in an annual review each year of the program to ensure academic satisfactory progress. This review will include the student’s graduate advisor and graduate committee.
Core Courses (28 credits)
DANCE 455 Dance Composition III (3)
DANCE 466 Curating the Practice: Global Approaches to Engaging Dance (4)
DANCE 665 Dance History & Theory (3)
DANCE 675 Dance and Community (3)
DANCE 762 Research Methods (3)
DANCE 776 Dance Curriculum and Teaching Practices (3) [1 credit per semester for 3] semesters)
DANCE 990 Creative Project for Research (9) [3 credits over 3 semesters]
Screendance Courses (23 required credits, 9 elective credits)
DANCE 449 Survey of Interarts and Technology (3)
DANCE 567 History of Screendance (3)
13 credits from:
ART 318 Introduction to Video, Performance, and Installation Art (4)
ART 511 Art Performance (3)
ART 518 Artist’s Video (4)
ART 531 Screen Performance (3)
DANCE 345 Video Design for Perf./Vis. Arts (3)
DANCE 440 Adv. Production Lab (1)
4 credits:
Dance technique courses 100 and above.
9 credits:
Elective graduate-level dance courses and/or research-related areas of study as agreed upon by the advisor.
LEARNING OUTCOMES
- Demonstrate a range of familiarity with creative methodologies in dance, (e.g., improvisation, scoring) and apply them in flexible and adaptable ways to meet project- and problem-specific needs.
- Formulate an individual artistic vision in balance with critical analyses, historical perspectives, and curatorial lenses.
- Cultivate and practice collaborative skills across disciplines using a variety of in-person and virtual (synchronous and asynchronous) modes of communication and collaboration.
- Investigate dance in diverse community settings and in social, cultural, political, and historical contexts, nationally and internationally.
- Develop and practice a critical vocabulary for communicating about one’s own work and that of others.
CONTACT
Amairani Zepeda
Department Program Coordinator
amairani.zepeda@wisc.edu
(608) 262-1691