Act. Sing. Dance. Write. Play music. Paint. Express yourself creatively. You can do it all and do it often at Iowa.

The University of Iowa has a long-standing reputation for excellence in the arts. Students are invited to take advantage of a wealth of resources, including world-renowned faculty and impressive performance venues.

Many performance opportunities and activities are offered by the School of Music and the Departments of Dance and Theatre Arts. Some are intended for majors, but others are open to students from across the University. You’ll also find an array of additional performance opportunities among the nearly 500 recognized student organizations and varied community groups.

Performing on stage builds confidence, strengthens résumés, and helps prepare students for careers after graduation. While some graduates go on to careers in performance and related areas, others use the skills they developed at Iowa to pursue jobs not directly related to the performing arts. Many enjoy lifelong participation in community performing arts organizations, such as theatre companies and musical groups.

• Why Perform at Iowa?
• Facilities
• Arts Living-Learning Community
• Music Performance
• Dance Performance
• Theatre Performance

Why Perform at Iowa?
Among the top programs in the country—these words are often used to describe Iowa’s performing arts programs.

The Departments of Dance and Theatre Arts and the School of Music are part of the Division of Performing Arts, which encourages and promotes interaction and collaboration among Iowa's arts departments.

For example, dance majors have opportunities to perform in opera and theatre productions. The departments also maintain close working relationships with the School of Art and Art History, the Iowa Writers’ Workshop, and the UI Museum of Art.

This spirit of cooperation increases the number of potential performing opportunities for students. And it enhances the already exciting arts-and-culture climate on Iowa’s campus.

Facilities
Among outstanding theatre arts performance venues are Mabie Theatre, a 477-seat proscenium playhouse, and David Thayer Theatre, a semiflexible space that seats 140–175 and is designed for experimental and environmental presentations. Theatre B has 144 seats and is used for workshop productions, and the movement room converts to a 50-seat studio theatre for performances with minimal production needs.

Space Place in North Hall is the Department of Dance’s 220-seat performance theatre. The department’s home in Halsey Hall features six technique studios, a video and Labanotation classroom, music studio, and Pilates lab.

The School of Music is currently housed in temporary facilities in several on-campus locations. A recital hall is located in University Capitol Centre, and large ensembles perform in other venues, such as the Iowa Memorial Union. Clinton Street Music and Music West–Interim Building provide ample practice room and instrument lockers. The school’s state-of-the-art Wenger practice rooms are equipped with recording capabilities and acoustical manipulations.

Arts Living-Learning Community
First- and second-year students interested in the performing arts may apply to live in the Arts Living-Learning Community. The diverse coed community, which is located in a UI residence hall, gives preference to students in dance, music, art and art history, film, photography, and theatre arts.

Music Performance
Is your idea of the perfect activity a performing group, whether choral or instrumental, jazz, popular, classical, or marching band? Students who sing or play an instrument are in luck at Iowa.

From new music to jazz, and from symphonic classics to opera, the
University has nearly two dozen campus performing groups for which musically inclined students may audition. Among them are:

• University Symphony Orchestra, open to all students, regardless of major.
• Concert Band, a 65-member group open to all students, regardless of major.
• Hawkeye Marching Band, a 250-member group that plays at all home football games, selected road games, and postseason games.
• Hawkeye Pep Bands, two bands made up of marching band members who play at basketball games, other sporting events, and a variety of University functions.
• Percussion Ensemble, featuring percussion instrumental music of the 20th and 21st centuries in many styles and from many areas in the world.
• Center for New Music chamber ensemble, a performance organization devoted to a late 20th-century and early 21st-century repertoire.
• Scottish Highlanders, who perform Scottish piping, dancing, and drumming in traditional dress.
• Voices of Soul, a gospel choir dedicated to an African American musical tradition.

Dance Performance
You’ll discover numerous opportunities to gain dance experience—ranging from modern to ballet to jazz and funk—on stage at Iowa. They include:

• Ten or more student and faculty productions each year at Space Place in North Hall.
• An extensive schedule of local and regional performances, demonstrations, master classes, and workshops by Dancers In Company, the University’s touring dance company.
• The annual Dance Gala, featuring 40 to 60 dancers in a concert that showcases the best faculty and student talent (dance majors and nonmajors alike).
• Dozens of other informal and experimental concerts throughout the year.

Theatre Performance

The Theatre Arts Department at Iowa is the third-oldest theatre arts department in the country. Even though it has a historic legacy, it is committed to new plays and is one of the best-known centers for development of new works. Iowa produces more work in a year than many places do in a decade.

UI undergraduates become involved quickly in classes and productions. All students are invited to audition for every play, and there are many roles available. Theatre performance opportunities include:

• At least 25–30 scheduled productions each year.
• Dozens of performances or readings of new plays by participants in the Iowa Playwrights Workshop, one of the finest graduate playwriting programs in America.
• Frequent participation in productions directed, designed, and/or written by—and often starring—Iowa’s faculty members.
• Internships at professional theatres, usually in the summer and involving production areas (backstage, stage management, design, or arts management), so students can learn all aspects of performance and production.