Our faculty and staff are dedicated to developing the next generation of theatre performers, designers, and live-event technicians. We provide you with hands-on training in scenic design and construction, lighting, sound, projection, staging, makeup, and costuming using cutting-edge technology. Students will have opportunities to design for industry productions and workshops. Our degree and certificate programs open doors to diverse career opportunities.

Technical Theatre students gain hands-on experience both within and outside of the theatre. Build a foundation in theatre history, and learn the principles of montage, story, human behavior, cinematics, and staging and camera techniques. We combine theory and practice to help you develop transferable skills for the industry workplace.

The Santa Monica College Dance Department offers a comprehensive AA degree in dance rooted in theory and practice that prepares students for BFA and BA transfer and dance related careers, while serving the general student population through a breadth of dance experiences. The Dance Department is dedicated to nurturing versatile dance artists through a combination of rigorous technical training in contemporary modern, ballet, commercial, and world dance forms with performance opportunities, theoretical study and creative exploration. Our aesthetically and culturally diverse curriculum inspires students to cultivate personal artistry, think critically, value difference, and become responsible global citizens.

As an independent department, the SMC dance program is considered a unique gem in two-year training programs. In Spring of 2017, SMC unveiled the new Core Performance Center, a state of the art facility with four spacious sunlit studios dedicated to the Dance Department. The dance program also features a relationship with the Eli and Edythe Broad Stage at the Santa Monica College Performing Arts Center, where our students perform in four full-length dance concerts per year.