DSA
Denver School of the Arts, a Denver Public School, is the only comprehensive arts magnet in the Rocky Mountain region. Founded in 1991, the 6th–12th grade school provides students the opportunity to nurture their creative talents in a supportive environment designed to encourage artistic and academic excellence.
The Big Picture
The world of dance as a performance art or career is a demanding and difficult world. It requires a discipline as great if not greater than the talent within the individual. It requires the physical strength and stamina of an athlete. It requires the emotional range of an actor and the dynamics of a singer. The dancer must be a performer with a giving nature that is easily brought to the stage.
The art of choreography is the creative process in dance as a theatrical art and is an integral part of dance in western culture today. Being successful in the performance or creation of dance as art, requires a solid foundation in technical and creative training, as well as, an understanding of other art forms — music, theater, storytelling, visual art and technical theater. Above all, it demands a profound understanding of yourself as an individual artist and your relationship to other artist and the world at large.
DSA Classical and Contemporary Pre-Professional Dance Program recognizes the complexity of dance as cultural phenomenon and performance art and seeks to weave the two into a cohesive training and enrichment program of study. Within the context of art school, the dancer is an innovator and a traditionalist all at once and merges these two worlds in unique and creative ways.
Our Goals and Philosophy
The DSA Classical and Contemporary Pre-Professional Dance Program is designed to cultivate great artist. The professional standards set, are in aligned with national dance standards like other prestigious arts programs in the country. DSA Dance Majors have the opportunity to create their own art, investigate one’s voice choreographically and artistically at this stage in their dance training that will carry them to great places and beyond. Creating great dancers in the DSA Dance department isn’t the soul focus of our studies. Molding young dancers into great artist and good human beings is the heart of the program. What you put into the dance, is what you will get out of the dance!
Photos: Eli Akerstein of Denver Dance Photography