Performing Arts

Calling all actors, dancers, musicians, and theater technicians: it’s time to take your creativity to the next level.

The Performing Arts Department aims to guide students in lifelong learning, expression, and creation. Students in the classroom, on the stage, and in the studio take an active role in creating music, theater and dance productions, and work toward mastery of performance, arts literacy, and technique in the performing arts.

Key Highlights

Curriculum materials, performance works, ensemble and lesson repertoire, and productions are chosen from a vast array of genres and time periods; global relevancy and diversity, equity, and inclusion are primary focal points.
Students enrolled in Performing Arts Department classes participate in and attend concerts, festivals, performances, and workshops both on and off campus with professional performers, directors, conductors, and technicians; the Guest Musician Series and Visiting Artists/Teachers are highlights of the program.
The Performing Arts Department encourages students to participate in department-sponsored events such as Recital Samplers, the Framed-In IDEA playwriting festival, Fall Dance Showcase and Spring Dance Revue, and the Spring Student Recital Series.

Featured Courses

CL Music composition and Theory III: Form and Advanced Composition

This course is designed for students with advanced music skills and a strong interest in long-form instrumental and vocal music. Students will apply deep harmonic and form analysis of existing musical works to their own compositions. Topics include borrowed sixth chords, seventh and ninth chords, counterpoint, modulations, and part writing. Students are introduced to classic sonata form and 20th-century and contemporary western and non-western composition and harmony. Significant time is allotted to developing keen ear training and aural recognition skills.

Acting: Stage Combat

Stage Combat is the illusion of violence for stage or screen. This course is an introduction and exploration of technical and aesthetic aspects of stage combat. The goals are for the students to develop the ability to safely portray violence onstage within the context of a play with specificity and dramatic power as well as to understand how stage combat fits into the practice of theater as a whole. Understanding the techniques of safe and effective performance combat is a primary objective. The students will build a strong foundation of footwork, attacks, and defenses, and explore movement and partnering techniques specifically for stage combat. Other aspects of the class include the development of strength, flexibility, hand/eye coordination, and the understanding and application of principles of safety in working with a partner and in ensemble.

Art of Dance

This course introduces students to dance by engaging with the multiple purposes of the art form through hands-on experiences, by exploring the history and current state of dance as a form of creative expression and social and cultural practice. Students will learn about ballet, modern, and jazz dance through technique classes, readings, discussions, videos, written responses, and collaborative projects. By examining dance in both global and local contexts, we will move toward a fuller appreciation and understanding of the influence of dance in our everyday lives as well as an embodied reflection and expression of the world in which we live. This half-course is open to all students, with no previous dance experience necessary.

Frequently Asked Questions

Can I take private music lessons?

Can I participate in music festivals?

I want to study performing arts in college. How will Loomis prepare me?

Music

For students planning to pursue the study of music in a significant way at the college level, the department recommends that the student participate in at least one curricular music ensemble performance course each year and pursue private lesson study. The student also should perform in the department's regularly scheduled Recital Samplers and in solo or shared recitals during the junior and senior years as well as prepare a recording for inclusion in the college application process.

Theater

To be competitive for admission to acting schools and/or to establish a strong theater resume for liberal arts college applications, a serious student should audition for at least one major and one minor production each year as well as take at least one theater course each year. Students concentrating in technical theater, costuming, lighting, set design, scenic art, and stage management may plan to engage in curricular and production offerings each year.

Dance

Students planning to further advance studies and experiences in dance at the college level should plan to audition for Dance Company and may consider classes in choreography and in genres in addition to their concentration or previous experience. There are several performing opportunities throughout the school year for students to showcase their skills and technique, including the Fall Dance Showcase and the Spring Dance Revue. Planning a course of study with the dance director is encouraged.