Curriculum Content

Choreography

The central focus of the programme is choreography. It is taken by all Single Honours, Major and Joint students and it underpins their research, and their critical understanding of Dance. Choreographic modules encourage experimentation and creative problem solving and are studied from an innovative perspective, allowing students to develop skills progressively over three years. All students are encouraged to develop their own choreographic style through practical methodologies and research and have opportunities to show their work in public performances.

Technique

Technique is intrinsic to practical dance understanding. Dance students normally take five dance technique classes per week throughout the year to ensure healthy, safe practice appropriate to the subject discipline. Active participation in daily sessions allows students to develop knowledge and experience of a range of styles and approaches to technique. Classes in contemporary dance (including traditional modern-based and post-modern approaches), ballet and contact improvisation enable students to build physical and performance skills needed for contemporary choreography and in relation to vocational destinations. Technique is leveled to encourage students to work appropriately and holistically, to maximise learning and to develop the physical rigour and mental confidence needed for public performance. Technique classes allow students to work consistently and progressively throughout their course of study to develop a professional attitude in relation to dance artistry within historical and cultural contexts.

Contextual

Contextual (Dance) modules enhance and inform choreographic studies, enabling students to engage with the work of key practitioners and theorists and their cultural and/or historical contexts. Students are challenged to explore the role of the body in performance; to understand the relationship between modernism and postmodernism through, for example, the legacy of Merce Cunningham; to creatively respond to contemporary, cultural and social issues and consider the impact of technology, in its broadest sense, on dance research and performance.

Vocational

Vocational modules offer choice, which at Levels 2 and 3 enable students to build and apply their skills to professional and scholastic practice and/or employment outcomes, to various employment contexts. Examples include performance skills and stage management (Dance Production); the awareness of self and others through movement exploration (Introduction to Dance Movement Therapy); using computer software packages to explore technology in performance (Technology and Performance I and II).