The art of ballroom choreography in the system of Ukrainian higher education

Main objective of the study is to research the art of ballroom choreography in the system of Ukrainian higher education. The purpose was to identify ways and prospects for training specialists in ballroom choreography in Ukrainian institutions of higher education of the IV level of accreditation. The tasks were to emphasize the status change of ballroom choreography as an art form in the modern cultural life of Ukraine; to classify and describe the specifics of teaching ballroom dancing in Ukrainian universities of different types; to formulate requirements to the perspective development of the system of art education of choreographers and teachers of ballroom dancing. Methodology. Considering the peculiarities of the subject of publication the following methods of scientific research were applied: search-analytical (to collect information about the chosen topic), structural-typological (to characterize different types of universities and disciplines), comparative (to analyze similarities and differences in teaching methods of ballroom choreography), forecasting method (to determine further directions of ballroom choreography development in the context of current trends in Ukrainian culture), generalization method (to write conclusions). Results and conclusions. It was found that the training of specialists in ballroom dancing in Ukraine is carried out in universities and academies of four types. Pedagogical institutions train ballroom dance teachers; sports universities focus their students on high achievements in the field of dance sports; classical and humanities universities provide such education in ballroom choreography, which allows to retrain in related specialties; artistic academies focus on revealing the creative potential of future specialists in ballroom choreography. Different groups of disciplines in ballroom choreography reflect the specifics of each area of training. It is concluded that Ukrainian universities need more specialized departments that would focus on the artistic component of ballroom choreography. This would neutralize the threatening tendencies of “technicalization” of ballroom dancing. Ballroom choreography in Ukraine should continue to develop as a component of culture and art.