This study identifies the current status of dance departments at universities in Daegu and Gyeongbuk and to raise the need to improve dance education programs and to seek a change in educational direction for dance departments facing the crisis of the abolition at the local universities. Starting with the department of dance at Hyosung Women's University (currently, Daegu Catholic University), which was established in 1974, the department of dance was established at Keimyung University (1984), the dance major at Yeungnam University (2002), and the department of practical dance at Daegu Art University (2004) in succession. The dance culture of Daegu and Gyeongbuk was formed and developed through dance education and creative activities have been centered on these universities. Today, however, with the rapid decline of the school-age population and the university restructuring policy, the dance departments at local universities face a crisis through the abolition, unification, downsizing of undergraduate majors and reform of specialty majors. Therefore, if the departments of dance at the local universities establish a step-by-step educational program that considers not only the admission process, but also student’s employment after graduation, and expand programs such as directing, management, stage, lighting as well as practical education centering on fine arts, and if each university presents a paradigm of specialized education to expand investment in creative dance education and to develop a new dance education ecosystem through the formation of a network between departments, community education institutions, and regional art creation agencies, they will grow into a continuous and future-oriented dance departments at local universities.