Wisconsin Public Radio recently highlighted the UW–Madison Dance Department’s upcoming centennial in an in-depth story, tracing the program’s groundbreaking origins and lasting impact on dance education.
This fall marks 100 years since Margaret H’Doubler established the nation’s first dance major at UW–Madison. The department will celebrate her legacy and the program’s history throughout the 2026–27 academic year, culminating in a four-day festival of performances, screenings, talks, and workshops in April 2027.
The WPR story recounts how H’Doubler’s dance classes, first offered in 1918, quickly drew hundreds of students — so many that UW–Madison President Edward Birge worried the university might become known as a “dancing school.” Even after restricting her travel, interest in her methods continued to spread nationwide.
“It was too late. Other institutions were inviting H’Doubler all the time, and if she couldn’t come to them, they would come to her,” said Andrea Harris, professor of dance history and Buff Brennan faculty fellow in the Dance Department. “The interest outweighed any pushback that there was at that time.”
Even today, the article notes, while the department remains on the cutting edge, H’Doubler’s legacy endures. Li Chiao-Ping, the Sally Banes Professor of Dance and Vilas Research Professor, told WPR she still covers the mirrors in her dance classes — a technique H’Doubler used to help students focus on how movement feels rather than how it looks.
“There’s great value to the inner experience of the students as a means towards gaining knowledge,” Li said. “I think that that’s one of the ways that we connect back to H’Doubler, and I think that’s also a way forward.”
The article also highlights how the department’s interdisciplinary approach — part of H’Doubler’s original vision of dance as both science and art — continues to drive innovation. As a research institution, UW–Madison attracts dance students with diverse academic backgrounds, a strength Li Chiao‑Ping says expands what dance can be. This fall, that evolution continues with the launch of a new MFA program, including an option in screendance.
“This will be the first terminal degree offered in the country, if not the world, in screendance,” Li said. “In terms of it as a critical and academic area for study, it is fairly new.”
Read the full Wisconsin Public Radio story to learn more about the Dance Department’s history and lasting influence.