The primary endeavor of the Claire Trevor School of the Arts is the creative act. Research activities are pursued both as an end in themselves and as a source that can inform both performance and the studio experience.  The intellectual activity of theoretical, literary, and historical courses complements the practical work in studio workshops and performance.  The Master of Fine Arts (M.F.A.) degree program inDance is designed  to produce artists literate in both traditional and digital media who are responsive to intellectual stimuli, disciplined, and capable of integrating existing knowledge into creative projects.

As a graduate student in the UC Irvine Dance Department, you will be part of the outstanding legacy and potential that define our program. In 1965 our founding chair Eugene Loring, with a dedicated group of dance artists and scholars, had the vision to create a professionally oriented university dance program that has sinced achieved national and international recognition.

Today, the life of the UCI Dance Department includes the research and preservation of dance history, the exploration of choreography in the present, and the cutting edge technology of the future. We have an exceptional commitment to dynamic and progressive education. Our beautiful location in Southern California inspires the highest ideals in art and dance making.

Throughout our programs there is a strong focus on the techniques of ballet, modern, jazz, tap, world dance, and dance and technology. Theoretical studies include dance history, theory, and ethnography; Laban studies; dance pedagogy; dance science; and aesthetics of digital media.