Rendering of a building with large windows and trees.

Opening in 2024

WMU's Dunbar Hall will be home to a brand new, state-of-the-art dance studio overlooking Miller Fountain Plaza.

Facilities

Video of WMU Dance Department Studio Tour

Take a tour when you visit campus - we love showing off our home away from home! Please reach out to us if you are a community member interested in renting our facilities.

Studio Spaces

Western Michigan University Department of Dance students attend class in the outstanding dance studios in the Dorothy U. Dalton Center. Starting in 2023, students will also attend class in a new, state-of-the-art studio in Dunbar Hall.

  • Three large studios and one medium studio are available for technique courses and rehearsals.
  • Each studio is equipped with a piano, percussion instruments and sound playback units.
  • A small studio is available for warm-up, solo and duet rehearsals.
  • Sprung floors, covered with specialized vinyl dance flooring, help provide a safe environment for performance of challenging dance repertory in all studios.
  • A Motion Capture Studio is also on site . Read about some recent work done with students in the Motion Caption Studio here

Performance Spaces

Dance Studio B converts easily from a studio to a performance space and is used for many presentations throughout the year, both formal and informal. It also serves as a production lab where students learn lighting design for dance and experiment with projection and other dance technology. All production equipment is modern and performance grade. Lighting technology includes intelligent accessories and LED equipment.

Performances are also presented in the D. Terry Williams Theatre and the Laura V. Shaw Theatre located in the Gilmore Theatre Complex. 

Instructional and Auxiliary Spaces

Classrooms, a conditioning room, newly furnished student lounge, and faculty and department offices supplement the beautiful studios.

  • The conditioning room is equipped with four Pilates reformers, an exercise mat, mirrors, anatomical charts and other equipment.
  • Locker rooms are equipped with lockers for each dance major student with showers, makeup lights, hairdryers and restrooms.