American Ballet Theatre and New York University will offer the nation’s first master’s degree in dance education with a concentration in ballet pedagogy, the institutions announced yesterday. The program, which will begin courses in fall 2008 and will require three semesters of full-time study, will be conducted through NYU’s Steinhardt School of Education, Culture, and Human Development. The aim is to train ballet dancers to teach in private studios and conservatories.

The degree will include training both in arts management and in dance teaching, courses for which will be taught by ABT faculty, including the principal of ABT’s Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis School, Franco De Vita, the artistic director of the ABT Studio Company, Kirk Peterson, and a faculty member at the school, Raymond Lukens. Faculty members from the NYU Steinhardt school who will teach in the program include the director of the dance education program, Susan Koff, and the associate director, Barbara Bashaw.

The degree will grant students both a Master of Arts and an ABT Ballet Pedagogy certificate. It included courses such as Environment of Performing Arts Administration, Dance for the Special Child, and Artistic Resources for Dance Education. “The opportunity to marry excellence in academics with excellence in dance pedagogy is thrilling,” the executive director of ABT, Rachel Moore, said in a statement. “Through this program ABT and NYU will be working together to raise the quality of dance training across America.”