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Department of Dance, Music & Theatre
Find your voice at Cal Poly Humboldt
The Department of Dance, Music & Theatre brings together some of the most creative minds on our campus to grow and nurture your career in the performing arts.
Through theory, history, and collaborative hands-on learning, students in our Dance, Music and Theatre Arts programs learn from highly qualified faculty who are actively engaged with their artforms in the wider community.
Be part of our thriving community of artists and performers on California’s Redwood Coast.
Dance, B.A.
This hands-on program offers a variety of academic courses and dance styles to study, with multiple opportunities to perform, collaborate, and choreograph. You’ll receive a thorough education in the practice, history, theory, and language of dance as an art form, including projects that challenge you to explore topics such as social justice, equality, and diverse cultures.
Music, B.A.
This foundational program provides you with foundational theory and history of music, performance opportunities in many styles and genres, and individual instruction in voice, orchestral and band instruments, piano, and composition. Choose from three concentrations:
- Music Studies
- Applied Music
- Music Education
Theatre Arts, B.A.
The Theatre Arts program emphasizes applied learning, supported by a solid foundation in theory and history. You can study performance, design/technology, or a combination of the two through elective units. The major prepares you for careers in theatre and offers skills essential in film, television, radio, and other production-oriented fields.
Minors
Dance, Music & Theatre Events
Tickets can be purchased through the Cal Poly Humboldt Presents website
Professional Facilities
Our department has a variety of discipline-specific practice and performance spaces, including sprung wood studios, a dedicated recital hall, and a 750-seat theater that is supported by extensive technology and equipment.
An Artistic Community
The North Coast provides a unique learning lab, inspiring creativity that can’t be found elsewhere. Dance, Music and Theatre Arts students have many opportunities to integrate their artistic practice into the community, and to build lasting relationships with fellow creatives.
Personal Attention
Our small class sizes mean getting to know your professors and fellow students through your education. This community will help you grow as a creative practitioner and intellectual, supporting you throughout your undergraduate career and beyond.
Place-Based Learning Community: Creative Coast
As a Dance, Music & Theatre freshman, you’ll participate in hands-on activities with your peers before classes even start, and in some cases, have the opportunity to live in the same residence halls with your peers. Dance, Music & Theatre students will join the Art + Film Department for Creative Coast, which shares resources on campus and in the wider Humboldt community including galleries, museums, and local arts non-profits through field trips and hands-on learning opportunities.
Dance Alumni
Music Alumni
Theatre Alumni
Achievements
Publications and achievements submitted by our faculty, staff, and students.
Willow Augilar, Amanda Coorey, Ali Laith, Steven Nichols, Jayden Rocha, Cora Shimetz, Abby Wetmore, Mackenzie Wray,
Dance, Music & Theatre
The Theatre program's performance of Clue: On Stage was evaluated by a respondent representing the Kennedy Center American College Theatre Festival, Region 7. Eight students in the production received awards for KCACTF. Willow Augilar and Ali Laith have been nominated for the Irene Ryan Acting award, which provides them with special training opportunities at next year's KCACTF conference. In addition, 6 students won Meritorious Achievement Awards - Jayden Rocha for Sound Design, Mackenzie Wray for Stage Management, Abby Wetmore for Stage Management, Cora Shimetz for Properties Design, Amanda Coorey for Scenic Design, ande Steven Nicholos for Sound Design.
Ricardo Paredes
Dance, Music & Theatre
Congratulations to Music Education major and saxophonist, Ricardo Paredes, who has been selected to receive a 2024-25 Presser Foundation Undergraduate Scholar Award. This national award provides $3,000 to recipients in recognition of their outstanding achievements in musical and academic performance, leadership and service, and contributions to building inclusive communities.
Amanda Coorey
Dance, Music & Theatre
Amanda Coorey, a theatre major from Temecula, CA, in her Junior year at CPH, took part in a public presentation of her Scenic Design work at the Kennedy Center American College Theatre Festival, held in Mesa Arizona on February 11 -15 2025. Amanda's design for the play Here We Are, by Dorothy Parker, was presented before a panel of 6 design faculty from various Colleges and Universities, who praised her work and chose it as a finalist from nearly 150 Design and Technology student submissions. This was Amanda's first Scenic Design - and the first time she publicly presented her work!
Congratulations, Amanda!