Point Park University’s dance program has gotten a glow-up. While dancers had previously trained in the dance department under the umbrella of the Conservatory of Performing Arts, they now have their own School of Dance.
“This will allow us to bring in more students, and also create more programming and opportunities,” says Garfield Lemonius, dean of the School of Dance. The new school, which became official at the start of 2025, now hosts a commercial dance department as well as a concert dance department, and students have the opportunity to earn their BFA in dance with a concentration in ballet, jazz, modern dance, or—for the first time—hip hop.
“It’s only fitting that hip hop can rise to the same prominence as ballet, modern, and jazz,” Lemonius says. He sees hip hop as a necessary skill for dancers to succeed today, given its ubiquitous presence across theater, concert dance, and commercial realms. By making it a concentration, the school will be able to bring in more hip-hop professors and guest choreographers (and, hopefully, Lemonius says, artists in residence). He also hopes this move influences other colleges to follow suit to give this American art form the dedicated study and respect it deserves.
On top of the addition of hip hop, Lemonius says, the dance program, as a school, will be able to create more partnerships across the university. For instance, Point Park dancers are already able to earn a fast-track BFA plus a master’s degree in business, communication, or education in just four years and a summer. Lemonius hopes additional collaborations like these will give dancers even more ways to succeed in all different pockets of the dance industry. One of those opportunities is close to home. As a department, the dance program lived at the Conservatory alongside the theater and cinema departments, which have also been elevated to become the School of Theatre, Film, and Animation. Interim dean Kiesha Lalama says that while dancers will be able to dive deeply into their primary interest—dance—they’ll be able to take classes at the new School of Theatre, Film, and Animation to grow their understanding of cinematography and video editing so they can explore dance on film and gain all the tools they need to market themselves effectively online. “You’ve got to be able to do all the things today—dancer, filmmaker, social media guru,” she says. “Our goal is to develop those voices into a new authentic genre that may not even exist yet.”
