The Department of Dance fosters an educational environment in which performance opportunities, creative projects, and theoretical studies complement and reinforce each other, providing a foundation for careers in dance. The program focuses on the dance techniques of ballet, modern, jazz, tap, world dance, and dance and technology. 

Theoretical studies include dance history and theory; dance writing; Laban studies; dance pedagogy; dance ethnography; dance science; and aesthetics of digital media. Creative opportunities bridge the studio and theoretical work through performance and choreography for multiple contexts; creative applications of animation, motion capture, audio and video technologies; lecture demonstration; and critical, historical, ethnographical, and scientific writing.

The dance archives in the UCI Langson Library Special Collections offer a rich source of research materials which enhance the Dance program. Among other special holdings, the archives include the extensive Ruth Clark Lert collection of dance books, journals, photographs, original costume sketches, and memorabilia of dance in Europe and the United States from pre-World War I to the present.

The Bachelor of Arts (B.A.) is designed for those who wish to obtain a broad undergraduate background as preparation for careers or graduate work and related fields. It offers students a dance education that stresses performance and choreography, and, at the same time, intellectual depth and scope. In addition to the core, 12 units of elective Dance courses are required. 

The remaining elective units required for graduation may be chosen from Dance or other disciplines in relation to a student’s individual interest. While the program of study in Dance stresses technical proficiency and academic understanding in dance, the B.A. degree program also enables students to pursue elective subjects in their special areas of interest in other academic disciplines.