The dance department at the Tacoma school of the arts is college prep program. It is based in modern technique with a strong emphasis in choreography. There are three levels of modern dance offered, as well as composition, and choreography class. Students are encouraged to not only learn the skills and vocabulary appropriate for each level of technique, but in all classes they are urged to create their own work.

Students perform in an end of the semester concert where they present their class projects. For their class projects, students are asked to take material from other academic classes and explore the concepts regarding those topics. For example, students may be studying the Indian class systems in humanities and they may choose to create a dance about that material. There is also the SOTA Dance Company. This group collaborates with the Museum of Glass, creating work in response to exhibits and happenings at the museum. They then take the work on tour sharing their performance and process with other schools, particularly Tacoma public elementary and middle schools.

Each year guest choreographers are hired to work with the students to create new work for the company. The Dance Department offers classes taught by adjunct artists. These classes are taught on a rotational basis with courses in world dance, hip hop, fitness and ballet. The dance program here at Tacoma School of the Arts is unlike private studios in that the main focus is to get students creating.
Students do not need to come here with years of experience, all levels are accepted. But, they are encouraged to express themselves, collaborate with others and perform.