Dance

Discover Your Potential at Barton Dance

Barton's Performing Arts Dance Program offers high quality dance instruction taught in excellent facilities like Studio 34 for students of all levels of dance experience. Our Dance Department is committed to the education of dancers by establishing a solid foundation of technical training coupled with artistic and aesthetic qualities and a welcoming and creative environment. Our department's goal is to prepare dance students for the next level, whether it be transferring to a university, in a dance company, or to gain a life-long appreciation of dance as an art form.

Barton’s Dance Program is a proud member of the American College Dance Association and National Dance Education Organization (NDEO).

Why Dance at Barton?

Dance Faculty: Classes are taught by dance professionals with decades of teaching experience.

AA Degree in Dance and AA Degree in Dance Instruction and Management: Barton is one of the few community colleges in the Midwest offering an Associates of Arts Degree in Dance designed to transfer to university dance departments. Our full dance curriculum is designed to train a dancer's body and mind with multiple types of classes.

New Dance Instruction and Management Credential: Barton’s Dance Department offers a one-of-a-kind 30 credit program training dance educators for dance studios, recreational facilities, and other learning environments in the dance industry.

Dance Scholarships: Barton offers multiple generous dance scholarships for dance majors and non-majors. Please contact Danika Bielek at bielekd@bartonccc.edu or (620) 792-9253 for more information.

Excellent Facilities: Barton's dance studio, Studio 34, is a sunny large space that includes a top-of-the-line Stage Step sprung floor, high ceilings, comfortable air conditioning/heating units, full stereo system, multiple ballet barres, balance boards, and LOTS of room to dance in! Check out a map of Studio 34!

Barton Dance Theatre (BDT): Our college dance company, Barton Dance Theatre, gives dance students valuable experience working in a dance company while earning performance credits. BDT performs throughout the year at a wide variety of events and venues. Auditions for BDT will be held twice a year at the beginning of fall and spring semesters.

Individualized Instruction: The many benefits of dancing at Barton include dancing in smaller sized classes where students receive more individualized attention at an affordable tuition.

Dancers practice in dance studio

Program Learning Outcomes

Upon completing our AA Degree in Dance students will:

Demonstrate and understand the creative process through choreographed and improvised movement projects applying timing (musicality), space, and movement dynamics.
Apply kinesiological based technique and performance qualities to expressive movement with physical clarity.
Describe, analyze, and reflect upon historical, cultural, and theatrical styles of movement by use of their appropriate terminologies.
Present themselves with professionalism through self-discipline, being prepared for the demands of a dancer, and working collaboratively with others.

Curriculum Guides

Curriculum Guides

Associate in Art
Dance

Dance for the Community

Classes for Adults & High School Students

Dancing for Mobility class students We welcome and invite high school students and adults from the community to join dance technique classes for personal enjoyment. Barton specifically offers lunchtime and evening classes to be available to working adults.

Dance for Aging Adults

Our program has unique movement classes designed for seniors to help increase balance, promote better posture and develop a stronger mind-to-body connection necessary for mobility. See Dancing for Mobility (DANC 1003) in dance class options offered through the Silver Cougar Club.

Classes

Modern Dance I & II (DANC 1020 & 1030 - 2 & 3 credits) Modern dance class students

Ballet I & II (DANC 1035 & 1036 – 2 & 3 credits)

Tap Dance I (DANC 1016 – 2 credits)

Jazz Dance I & II (DANC 1100 & 1102 - 2 credits)

Barton Dance Theater (DANC 1001 - 2 credits)

Dance Composition I (DANC 1010- 3 credits)

History of Dance I (DANC 1040 - 3 credits)

Dancing for Mobility for Aging Adults (DANC 1003 - 2 credits)
This dance therapy class helps aging adults maintain mind-to-body connection, improve balance, increase memory and have a good time while learning a variety of dance styles in a safe environment.

Barton Dance Theatre

Barton Dance Theatre dancer Barton Dance Theatre (BDT) is committed to bringing high quality dance experiences with artistic motivation to Barton students and beyond. BDT members learn, rehearse and perform challenging dances from a diverse range of styles with intent to represent the college at a wide range of local and national venues. Giving students the experience of what working in a dance company is like while gaining two college credit hours, BDT is an excellent choice for those looking to work in the field of dance or for those who pursue dancing with commitment, energy, and perseverance.

BDT (course DANC 1001) meets Tuesdays and Thursdays from 6:00 - 8:00 p.m. After being accepted by audition, students must register for the 2-credit hour class to participate.

BDT Company Requirements:

Acceptance by audition.
A minimum of two years dance experience in Modern/Contemporary Dance, Jazz Dance, and/or Ballet.
Be actively enrolled and attending dance technique classes in the fall semester at Barton or regional dance studio.

Upcoming BDT Auditions

Barton Dance Theatre dancers perform on stage The class-style audition can be done either virtually through Zoom or live. Please contact Danika Bielek at bielekd@bartonccc.edu or (620)792-9253.

Check shows.bartonccc.edu for audition schedules!

Danika Bielek

With 25 + years of working as a dance educator, Danika Bielek has taught students from beginners through professionals of all ages, including instructing at multiple colleges, preparing dancers for YAGP, and teaching Olympic trainees in Colorado Springs to understand how the moving arts can benefit their sport. In addition to being a dance educator, she is also a Yoga instructor. She has a B.F.A. cum laude in Dance Performance/Choreography at Arizona State University. After spending days in the studio, her love for dancing continued to Phoenix nightclubs where she began Salsa dancing.

In 2013 Ms. Bielek began studying dance as a form of therapy for many purposes- whether it be maintaining a mind-to-body connection in aging adults or building self-confidence in abused children, with Dance for PD and Gibney Dance. She performed professionally for over a decade with modern, ballet, improvisation, and Afro-Caribbean companies by Daniel Nagrin, CK Ganyo, Cliff Keuter, Bill Evans, Marion Kirk Jones, David Taylor, Cleo Parker Robinson, and Brazilian choreographer, Rosangela Silvestre. Other career highlights include choreographing a Heart Ball Gala for the American Heart Association, founding Composite Dance Theatre, being a featured choreographer on the PBS’s series Dance Horizons, and is currently one of the Rehearsal Directors for the Prairie Nutcracker in Central Kansas. Ms. Bielek is passionate over arts advocacy and has worked as an arts administrator as the Dance Chair at Pikes Peak Community College, Executive Director & Dance Director of the Bethel College Academy of Performing Arts and is currently a dance representative with the Kansas Creative Arts & Industries Commission.

In addition to enjoying life as a dance instructor and Director of Barton Dance Theatre, she also serves as the Fine & Performing Arts Coordinator at Barton Community College. She is Mom to a “sciencey” adult son, Nigel, and lives with her musician husband Scot, and silly old dog, Dingo.