Northeastern University New York City Dance Department: New Name, Proven Track Record

Northeastern University New York City Dance Department: New Name, Proven Track Record One of New York City’s top dance institutions has a new name: The former Marymount Manhattan College is now part of Northeastern University. While the name may be different, the excellence of the MMC dance program remains. “This merger allows us to have an infrastructure and resources that, as a small institution, were not previously available,” says dance chair Melanie George. During a precarious time for both arts and academia, the investment from Northeastern, a private university with its main campus in Boston, Massachusetts, means the dance program will have the enhanced support it needs to continue operating at a high level while also expanding in new ways—namely, George highlights, expanding the faculty and artistic programming. New Name, New Dance Chair—Same Excellence The curriculum and the way the dance department functions—as a conservatory training model within a liberal arts program—will remain the same. “We will retain our schedule and our faculty and our programming,” George says. While this is Northeastern’s first campus in New York City, it’s also the first time the 128-year-old institution will have a dance department. “It’s heartening and empowering that the manner they are investing in New York City is through a school that’s renowned for its successful dance program,” George says. George herself is a new face within the department, too. An in-demand dramaturg, jazz choreographer, and scholar, she became the dance chair in January 2026. Her plans? Give students access to a top range of dance artists by continuing to draw on the school’s location in the heart of New York City. Fabulous Faculty and Students Who Get Hired Taught by six full time and about 40 adjunct faculty members, dancers take classes in ballet, modern, contemporary, jazz, club and street dance styles, and embodied African aesthetics. Each technique class features a rotation of multiple instructors throughout the semester, giving students exceptional exposure to deepen their skills and virtuosity. And these classes aren’t reserved for the BFA students: Those pursuing their BA in dance sciences, pedagogy, or dance and media receive the same conservatory-level training. Dancers often find invaluable mentors. “Students begin to form individual one-on-one relationships with faculty members based on their dance expertise or networks they’re connected to,” George says. It’s not uncommon for adjuncts or guest artists to hire students who were formerly in their class. Take recent alum Christina Naslund. The former competitive dancer entered the dance program in 2022 with the goal of becoming a contemporary ballet dancer, but she found herself connecting with the jazz faculty. “The teachers are legends in dance,” she says. “Every day, I was challenged and pushed beyond my comfort zone.” For one of the school’s concerts during her junior year, Naslund was cast in a jazz piece by Dylan Pearce, the associate choreographer for the Radio City Rockettes. “Getting that experience and his getting to know my dancing, my style, set me up for the following summer, when I trained at Radio City,” she says. The result was a contract to perform with the Rockettes her senior year. “One of the biggest selling points of our program is that our dancers work,” George says. “There’s a direct pipeline to having a dance career, whatever version of a career you decide it’s going to be.” Taking the Stage Another selling point: BFA and BA students gain stage experience right away. Every freshman takes a stagecraft class, both performing and learning stage crew operations within their first year. Throughout their four years in the dance program, students can audition for two to three concerts per year, dancing works by nationally recognized artists in a variety of styles. Last semester, for instance, artist Rena Butler choreographed a new contemporary work on students in a concert that also included house dance by Tatiana Desardouin, theater jazz by Betty Weinberger, contemporary ballet by Keerati Jinakunwiphat, and contemporary dance by Larry Keigwin. Being located in New York City means the school can commission these artists for semester-long commitments, rather than the typical one or two weeks. Butler says she got two to four hours a week to rehearse the students over the course of three months. “It gave me an opportunity to actually absorb what their needs are, where I could challenge them, where they shine,” she says. But what Butler appreciated most was how eager all the dancers were to learn her material, no matter whether they were coming from the jazz or musical theater concentrations or were strictly ballet. She finds this radical open-mindedness to be pretty rare among college dancers. “Across the board, each and every one of them was so geeked out about diving into the work,” she says. “That was really refreshing.” In addition to the expanded rehearsal period, the department programs lengthy performance runs: two weekends of shows, including two Saturday performances. George says this prepares dancers both physically and mentally for what they’ll experience in a company or on Broadway. “Part of the education is learning how to care for their bodies for longevity in the field,” she says. George has already seen first-hand just how valuable these kinds of opportunities are for the students and is looking forward to finding ways the department can grow even further. “It’s an exciting time in terms of the kind of students that are attracted to our program, and as a result, the caliber of artists we continue to attract,” George says. As head of the new Northeastern University New York City dance program, she sees promise ahead: “Change is powerful, and with change comes possibility.” Learn more about everything the Northeastern University New York City Dance Department has to offer here.