When she begins her senior year in the Fall, Performing Arts student Madison “Maddy” Hitchcock will be among the very first Dance Studies majors at CSU Channel Islands (CSUCI). Hitchcock declared her major in Dance Studies in late Spring, as soon as she learned the Performing Arts program was offering the new major beginning in Fall 2022.
“I’m really, really excited about it,” Hitchcock said. “This is what I always wanted to study. I think so many dancers would benefit from being a part of this program because it isn’t specific to any age, body type or experience level.”
Previously, the University offered a Performing Arts major with a Dance emphasis, but this is the first Dance Studies major ever offered at CSUCI. And it won’t be your typical college Dance Studies major, according to Associate Professor of Performing Arts Heather Castillo, who has been a champion for the program along with Performing Arts/Dance Lecturers MiRi Park and Bonnie Lavin-Hughes.
“The degree is a global look at dance and how dance has always been a way to communicate and pass down our culture from generation to generation with the stories in our bodies,” Castillo said.