School of Performing Arts
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Overview
The School of Performing Arts is home to courses, minors and immersions and performances in the areas of music, theatre, and dance. The school offers the opportunity both in and out of the classroom to participate in music ensembles, theatrical and dance productions and other experiential learning opportunities. We believe performing arts empowers our students to use technology in creative and innovative ways. The faculty come from a diverse range of scholarly, performance, and creative backgrounds and are highly respected scholars in their respective fields.
Latest News
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February 17, 2025
Rochester City Ballet and RIT present ‘Visionary’
Rochester City Ballet is teaming up with RIT to present “Visionary,” a four-piece showcase of classical and contemporary movement, including a world premiere version of Boléro.
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February 3, 2025
Music, dance, even yo-yos featured at Ovation competition
Ovation will feature 14 acts of dance, vocal and instrumental music. The first-place act will win $1,000, with a $500 prize awarded to the second-place act.
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January 29, 2025
RIT and NTID Performing Arts students earn honors
Students from RIT’s School of Performing Arts and NTID’s Department of Performing Arts brought home awards and honors from the annual Kennedy Center American College Theatre Festival (KCACTF). One of eight regional competitions draws students from theater programs nationwide, faculty, students, and interpreters traveled to Pittsburgh, for a chance to advance to the national competition in April. This is the eighth year in which RIT students have completed in a range of categories from acting to dramaturgy.
Featured Work and Profiles
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RIT Hosts Famed Tabla Musician Sandeep Das as Artist-in-Residence
Grammy-winning tabla musician Sandeep Das worked with RIT students and performed a concert during his Delhi to Kabul residency during the spring semester of 2024. He was joined by members of his...
Read More about RIT Hosts Famed Tabla Musician Sandeep Das as Artist-in-Residence -
Spotlight’s On: The Pop-Up Performance Spot
Sometimes, you just have to let it out. Sing that song that’s been going through your head. Dance out the way you’re feeling inside. Slam a poem. Act out a scene. Beat a drum, blast some brass, or...
Read More about Spotlight’s On: The Pop-Up Performance Spot
Minors and Immersions
The dance immersion provides you with an overview of dance by exploring its contemporary applications through experiential and academic methods. You will have the opportunity to actively experience, analyze, and participate in dance as an art form, exploration of movement, and as a means of creative and personal expression. The immersion requires you to complete a course focusing on world dance and cultures, which provides cultural perspectives and examine dance traditions and movement through historical, critical, artistic, and socio-cultural contexts.
This degree program is offered jointly between the National Technical Institute for the Deaf and the College of Liberal Arts.
Learn more about the Dance Immersion programThe dance minor provides you with an overview of dance by exploring its contemporary applications through experiential and academic methods. You will have the opportunity to actively experience, analyze, and participate in dance as an art form, as an exploration of movement, and as a means of creative and personal expression. The minor requires you to take a an introductory course on world dance and culture, which provides cultural perspectives and examines dance traditions and movement through historical, critical, artistic, and socio-cultural contexts.
This degree program is offered jointly between the National Technical Institute for the Deaf and the College of Liberal Arts.
Learn more about the Dance Minor programThe music and technology minor includes courses in music theory, music history, contemporary and historical musical instrument technology, acoustics, audio engineering, music for media, and music performance. This minor provides students with an avenue to integrate their technological interests and skills with music.
Learn more about the Music and Technology Minor programThe immersion in music offers courses in the history, theory, and practice of music. Students with a background in music and/or a genuine desire to know more about the subject will have the opportunity to expand their knowledge of various theoretical and historical aspects, as well as participate in performing groups at RIT.
Learn more about the Music Immersion programThe music performance minor combines courses in music theory, music history, and world music with practical application through ensemble participation and applied music study. This combination of the academic and the practical offers students a more profound understanding of the art of music, and in a broader sense, an introduction to cultural development and the communication of ideas. A total of 15 credit hours from the suggested list of courses must be earned for the minor, with three credits in music theory and three credits from ensemble participation, required. Students can substitute 3 credits of Applied Music for three credits of ensemble, upon approval from the department of performing arts.
Learn more about the Music Performance Minor programThe theatre arts immersion offers courses in dramatic literature, theatre history, theory, and practice. Students expand their knowledge of dramatic and theatrical arts as well as study the role and function of theatre in the broader contexts of history, culture, and the communication of ideas.
Learn more about the Theatre Arts Immersion programThe theatre arts minor provides an iterative balance of theory and practice that engages students intellectually and creatively. This combination of critical thinking and experiential learning offers students an in-depth understanding of the art of theater, as well as an introduction to the role of theater as both a form of commentary on, and as a reflection of, society and culture. The minor includes student participation in a minimum of three department sponsored theater productions via the minor's two required courses.
Learn more about the Theatre Arts Minor programThe theatre design and stagecraft immersion fosters an understanding and appreciation of the craft, theory, and art of design for theatre and dance. You will explore artistic, historical, and cultural aspects of design for diverse audiences.
This degree program is offered jointly between the National Technical Institute for the Deaf and the College of Liberal Arts.
Learn more about the Theatre Design and Stagecraft Immersion programThe theatre design and stagecraft minor develops your understanding of the craft, theory, and art of design for theatre and dance. Courses explore the artistic, historical, and cultural elements of theatre design. Theoretical knowledge is balanced with experiential learning, obtained through the completion of required practicum experiences that involve participation in department productions. The minor is open to all hearing and deaf/hard of hearing students.
This degree program is offered jointly between the National Technical Institute for the Deaf and the College of Liberal Arts.
Learn more about the Theatre Design and Stagecraft Minor program