Mykel Del Angel 
PHOTO COURTESY DEPARTMENT OF DANCE
Beginning Spring 2026, Spanish dance courses will no longer be offered by the Department of Dance due to a lack of faculty and low enrollment, according to the department chair.
“We are going in the direction of replacing Spanish dance with jazz because of a history of low enrollment in the Spanish dance class and not having the faculty members with the expertise in that specific area to teach it,” said Dana Shackelford, associate professor of dance and chair of the Department of Dance.
Based on the data provided by the UTRGV Office of Strategic Analysis and Institutional Reporting, Spanish dance classes show a 71.4% decline in enrollment throughout semesters since 2021.
“It was one of the four techniques and still is this semester, but that is in transition,” Shackelford said.
The current catalog for the Bachelor of Fine Arts in Dance includes ballet, contemporary dance and folklĂłrico.
“The degrees are still the same,” said Rebeca Gamborino, assistant professor of dance and department adviser. “The only difference is now one of the techniques that we offered is going to be replaced by a different technique.”
Shackelford said Jeffrey Ward, dean of the College of Fine Arts, initially suggested canceling the classes for Fall 2025 due to low enrollment, but she provided a temporary solution.
“I [had] an idea of using funds in the performing arts [from] the Ballet Español company to hire professionals in that area to teach workshops and teach content and material during that class,” she said. “I convinced Dr. Ward to do that, thank God. And we saved the class for this semester … [but] we cannot sustain that.”
According to the UTRGV Dance Department’s handbook, the Ballet Español is one of four performance companies under the UTRGV Repertory Dance Company, where students can study and perform various dance styles.
The Rider requested an interview with Ward Nov. 5, but he referred the newspaper to Melissa Vasquez, the interim director of News and Media Relations for University Marketing and Communications.
Vasquez told The Rider in a Nov. 20 email, she was able to get clarification from the UTRGV Office of Curriculum and Institutional Advancement on the process of how a decision is made to add or remove a course from a catalog.
Major changes to courses in academic programs must follow guidance from the university’s Handbook of Operating Procedures 06-202.
“For this situation in the Dance Department, faculty met and voted on the curriculum changes, which were then approved by the department chair and dean, and submitted to the Office of Curriculum and Institutional Assessment for institutional review and approval,” Vasquez wrote.
When asked about bringing back the program in the future, Shackelford replied she would be open to reinstating it if the department can find a qualified faculty member.
Although the class is being removed, there are efforts from faculty to preserve the Ballet Español company, which will hold its Spanish Nights concert in January. Shackelford said she has offered to preserve Spanish dance through the formation of a student organization dedicated to the art form.
“There are a handful of students that are very interested in pursuing a student organization,” she said. “I’m trying to do everything that is in my power to help them with that.”
The Rider reached out to Spanish dance students and alumni for interviews, but they declined to comment.
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