DANCE

Dance Merger: UCLA plans to combine its prestigious dance department with its world arts and cultures program, which has gained visibility in recent years in part through its ties to the Los Angeles Festival. Pat Baxter, assistant dean of the School of the Arts, cautioned that plans for the new department--which does not yet have a name--are in the preliminary stages and no curriculum has been set. “The dance department is not going to go away, but rather we want to create something that will . . . build the strongest possible program,” she said. “We see it as a way that UCLA can take some leadership nationally in terms of education in the arts.” The plan must undergo an “elaborate review process,” which means changes would not be implemented until sometime after the 1993-94 academic year, Baxter said. Judy Mitoma, the high-profile chair of world arts and cultures, who has also been recommended to head the dance program, would lead the new department.