About Dance

OFA Dance Program Working Mission

The Office for the Arts (OFA) Dance Program's mission is to promote dance as a way of knowing, understanding, and inquiring, and as an integral part of culture. We aim to advance dance literacy; create transformative dance experiences; and cultivate citizen-artist leaders, in beloved community, for a more just and promising world. 

Housed within the Harvard Dance Center at 66 Garden St, Cambridge, MA, the OFA Dance Program offers meaningful engagement– on campus, and in our greater Cambridge and Boston communities and beyond them– that promotes access, inclusivity, reflection, dialogue, community, expression, research, and invention. No matter the point of entry, from community dance classes and visiting artist workshops and conversations, to student-led dance groups, our focus is to foster a transformative student experience and empower tomorrow's artists, innovators, and leaders. 

The OFA Dance Program offers non-credit community classes in a range of dance traditions taught by highly seasoned dance professionals, and which are free for Harvard undergraduate students. We regularly host guest artists who lead workshops, talks, and conversations, cultivating exceptional opportunities for students to work with intergenerational professional artists who are groundbreakers in the field and in disciplines linked to dance. Programming, classes, and events are inclusive of all abilities and levels of experience.

Central to programming is partnerships with departments, programs, and student organizations across campus. In collaboration with partners, the OFA Dance Program supports artist residencies, commissions, performances, and special events, and provides workshops and dialogues that aid in advancing diversity, equity, inclusion, belonging, and justice (DEIJ). Additionally, we provide mentorship, support, and residency opportunities for over 25 student-led dance groups, representing traditions from across the globe.

Dance Studies in Theater, Dance & Media

For Undergraduate students interested in concentrating in Theater, Dance & Media, visit the TDM course list. 

Undergraduate students interested in more information about secondary and concentration opportunities in Theater, Dance & Media please email tdm@fas.harvard.edu and visit tdm.fas.harvard.edu.

All Are Welcome

The Harvard Dance Center and the Office for the Arts (OFA) are spaces where every student can be fully self-expressed without fear of being made to feel uncomfortable, unwelcome, or unsafe based on race, ethnicity, cultural background or tradition, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, age, or physical or mental ability; a space where the social contract supports each person's self-respect and dignity, and encourages everyone to respect others.

We are anti-racist and are actively challenging our own assumptions and biases as we work toward true equity for all. In that spirit, we do not tolerate racism, discrimination, bias, and intolerance of any kind from anyone in, associated with, or visiting the Harvard Dance Center and Office for the Arts (OFA) in person or virtual spaces.

University Resources 

• Disability Access Office (DAO): Partners with FAS students with visible and invisible disabilities to identify barriers and implement plans for access.
• Anonymous Reporting Hotline: If you have experienced, witnessed, or been impacted in any way by racial discrimination, you can contact the Anonymous Hotline, open 24/7.
• Hate Crimes | Harvard University Police Department
• Office of Culture & Community
• Office of Gender Equity: If you have experienced, witnessed, or been impacted in any way by sexual or gender-based harassment, OGS can provide you with options that feels right for you. A confidential space open to the entire Harvard community where people can process and understand their experiences and feel empowered to make the choice best suited to their needs. If you need immediate support call the 24-hour Crisis Hotline at 617.495.9100.

Harvard & the Legacy of Slavery

We would like to highlight Harvard & the Legacy of Slavery, a university-wide research effort anchored at the Radcliffe Institute, that includes a published report identifying more than 70 Black and Indigenous people who were enslaved by Harvard faculty, staff, and leaders, some of whom lived and worked on campus, while many other Harvard affiliates propagated discrimination and racism through their leadership and scholarship at the University. 

This research provides a strong foundation for a process of reckoning and repair and we encourage our Harvard colleagues especially to read the report and its recommendations.

READ THE REPORT ON THE PRESIDENTIAL COMMITTEE ON HARVARD & THE LEGACY OF SLAVERY 

Experience the Walking Tour which includes the dance film Initiation– In Love Solidarity and reflections from the creator Nailah Randall-Bellinger, Harvard Dance Center Teaching Artist and Fall 2021 Artist-in-Residence.