Special Resources

Graduate Assistantships

There are 11 paid positions available each semester to MFA dance students with documented experience in several areas of specialty. The assistantships are: dance production manager (two positions); costume coordinator (two positions); dance instructor (two positions); dance history assistant; publicity assistant; video technician; sound technician; and newsletter editor.

London Exchange Program
The Sharon Disney Lund School of Dance has an ongoing exchange program with London Contemporary Dance School. Each fall, two upper-division undergraduates selected by the dean and faculty enjoy the unique opportunity to study abroad for one semester. Students selected for this program are responsible for their own transportation and living costs, London Contemporary Dance School maintains referrals for affordable housing, which, include the option to board with local families.

Roy And Edna Disney/Calarts Theater (REDCAT)
Housed inside the Frank Gehry-designed Walt Disney Concert Hall complex in downtown Los Angeles, REDCAT is a unique platform for the presentation of experimental and interdisciplinary work in the visual, performing and media arts. In addition to hosting the CalArts Dance Ensemble Concert and the Spring Dance Concert each year, REDCAT presents performances by leading dance companies from across the United States and around the world. Many of the artists who perform at REDCAT also come to the CalArts campus as visiting artists.

Community Arts Partnership (CAP)
CalArts' Community Arts Partnership works with community arts centers and public schools throughout Los Angeles County to provide free college-level arts education to middle and high school students.

Select students from The Sharon Disney Lund School of Dance teach CAP workshops and classes, and organize and present public performances. CAP offers students the opportunity to share their knowledge and abilities with teenagers and work directly with faculty artists to create innovative pedagogical approaches. CalArts students taking part in CAP gain valuable teaching experience and benefit from real-world engagement programs with local communities.

Center For New Performance (CNP)

The CNP is the professional producing arm of CalArts, established to provide a unique artist- and project-driven framework for the development and realization of innovative dance, music, theater and interdisciplinary projects. Bringing the artistic community of CalArts into a direct dialogue with professional communities at the local, national and international levels, the CNP enriches the CalArts educational experience by making it possible for students to work shoulder-to-shoulder with artists from around the globe. Recent CNP guest artists have included director Chen Shi-Zheng, actor Stephen Dillane, and composers Vinny Golia and Stephin Merritt.