Santa Monica : SMC, UCLA Dance Project

Santa Monica College has entered into an agreement with UCLA that will guarantee admission of qualified students into the university’s dance programs.

Last April, the college entered into a similar agreement with New York University.

Carol Scothorn, who chairs the UCLA program, praised the college’s dance department and its students. “SMC is doing a really wonderful job preparing them,” she said.

Under the agreement, students must complete the equivalent of two full years of study at the college and maintain a B average. They must take two years of ballet, two years of modern dance, a year or more of choreography, and classes in ethnic dance and music analysis for dance, plus advanced choreography or a year in the arts mentor program. The students must also audition at UCLA and be recommended by Linda Gold, director of the college’s dance program.