Commercial Dance

The Commercial Dance Certificate will provide foundation level courses that can be used to gain entry-level work in the fields of commercial dance. Students will be able transfer to a four year institution or further their education. They will acquire the core skills necessary for the commercial dance industry, and they will be focused toward entering the workforce and joining dance performing community.

Projected annual program completers:  5

Source: Allan Hancock College Institutional Research

The Commercial Dance Certificate serves the goal of providing a certificate of achievement for competitive placement in entry level work in areas such as cruise lines, amusement parks, resorts, festivals, theater productions, choreography, and other commercial dance avenues or for transfer. Additionally, it will set intermediate milestones for individuals seeking the Dance Program's degrees. The Commercial Dance Certificate provides hands-on experiences in live audition preparation, commercial performance techniques, and various choreographic techniques. Our students will develop critical thinking skills unique to the creation and appreciation of commercial dance and performance forms, and our coursework will enhance their communication skills. Objectives: 1. Students will be able to demonstrate a wide range of commercial dance and performance styles. 2. Students will be able to understand their own inner-creative potential. 3. Students will be able to engage in critical thinking, collaboration, and cultural exchange that is tied into the commercial dance entertainment field. 4. Demonstrate an understanding of commercial dance concepts, materials, and processes involved in creating choreographic works for film, television, stage and industrial works. 5. Participate in a variety of commercial dance forms, styles, demonstrating accomplishment of skills, techniques, and processes involved in their creativity, through a portfolio of choreographic, performance and dance works.

Many of our students have found self-employment as a result of the training provided in the courses that will be in the Commercial Dance Certificate. They have collaborated with the World Dance for Humanity in Santa Barbara, Santa Barbara County Fair, Paso Robles Arts Festival, the Choreographers Carnival in Los Angeles, Covered California and Cuesta College Hispanic Heritage month. Our students have choreographed for businesses in the immediate and surrounding area,and have gone out to own their private dance studios and dance schools. Others have found employment at various commercial dance jobs in the entertainment field, such as back-up dancing for music artists, Disney performance tours, cruise lines, B.E.T Awards and more. The Commercial Dance Certificate will provide an alternative form of completion leading to recognition of courses taken at an accredited college. This will accompany the choreography and creative work reels and resumes our students create, thus contributing to the community college mission of providing quality educational opportunities that enhance student learning and the creative, intellectual,cultural, and economic vitality of our diverse community. The required courses will uphold Allan Hancock College’s mission through its assessment of Student Learning Outcomes found in the Commercial Dance Certificate courses, and their alignment with the dance program's PLOs and Allan Hancock's Institutional Learning Outcomes.

Advisory Committee Recommendations:

Recommendation No. 1: Allan Hancock College students have expressed interest in a Commercial Dance certificate to receive acknowledgment of their work that is associated with Jazz and commercially oriented classes.  This will enable them to have certification of classes completed as they apply for employment in the dance industry.  This would be a foundation for students to start a career in dance.   A certificate in Commercial Dance will increase enrollment/certificates completed in the dance program at Allan Hancock College.

Recommendation No. 2: In today's digital and prolific entertainment world there are so many arenas for commercial dancers to make a living. However there are very few academic programs that include training in areas specific to this field ... Training that would make any dancers pathway so much clearer, direct,  and successful. Today's young dancers mostly have to learn by trial-and-error... What to wear to auditions, Where to get a head shot, How to get an agent, What venues of dance do they need to have in their wheelhouse, What do professional choreographers look for in a dancer, What can they expect on  a TV shoot or a movie set or a musical video situation, a national tour, or any other of the multitude of possible employment situations?  How important is it to be a Triple Threat,   How do they make a proper resume, A proper video reel, Where do they find audition listings, Who should they be taking classes from, Where should they live for the best possibilities of consistent careers?  The more skills a dancer has the more employable they are.. Where can they emerge with an education that has covered acting, Voice , Ballet, , Hip hop,  Ethnic, Musical theater, Partnering, Contemporary, And Jazz techniques?  Shows like "Dancing with the Stars" and "So you think you can Dance",  and "The world of Dance" have changed the landscape of the dance industry forever.  The number of excellent technicians are currently vast, however the job market has also exploded.  

A major of 16.5 units is required for the certificate.