BA (Hons) Dance, Aerial and Physical Theatre

Program Overview

This innovative BA (Hons) Dance, Aerial and Physical Theatre program offers a unique blend of dance, aerial techniques, and physical theatre training. Designed for mixed abilities, it prepares students for careers in the creative industry as performers, choreographers, teachers, and more. With a focus on practical experience, students benefit from daily dance technique classes and interdisciplinary collaborations, fostering their artistic growth and versatility.

Program Outline

Degree Overview:

This BA (Hons) Dance, Aerial and Physical Theatre degree is the first aerial dance undergraduate degree in the UK. It offers intensive practical training experience combining dance and aerial technique classes to help prepare performers for careers within the creative industry. The degree is designed to extend dance training with specialist aerial skills and an understanding of narrative choreography. It caters to mixed abilities, so previous aerial experience is not required.

Outline:

The course is structured over three years, with each year building upon the previous one. Here's a breakdown of each year's modules:

Year One

• Choreography and Devising: Introduces a range of choreographic techniques, structures, and working methods to develop choreographic skills.
Students complete a tutor-led group performance.
• Choreography and Performance: Explores creative, compositional, devising, and production approaches in contemporary performance practice through student-led group performance work.
• Dance Techniques 1: Refines technical skills through daily technique classes and focuses on key elements of dance fitness.
• Re-Examining Dances: Explores dance examples from the UK or globally, focusing on technique, style, and historical, cultural, political, and/or artistic contexts.
• Thinking Through Dance: Explores questions and ideas underpinning contemporary dance, combining practical workshops and lectures.

Year Two

• Aerial Creative Lab 1: Focuses on the devising process and strategies for working interdisciplinarily with dance, aerial, and physical theatre practices.
• Aerial Dance Techniques 2: Develops movement memory, timing, musicality, and spatial awareness through improvisational techniques.
• Composing Dances: Provides opportunities to broaden choreographic experience through group pieces using tutor-identified research sources.
• Dance Techniques 2: Expands dance technique knowledge, including development of movement memory, timing, musicality, and spatial awareness, and explores key elements of dance fitness.
• Improvisation & Performance: Develops performance skills and vocabulary from solo to group improvisation, focusing on spontaneous compositional practice, awareness, kinaesthetic, spatial, and aural elements.
• Movement and Character: Engages students with physical theatre techniques to devise, sustain, develop, and deliver character through movement.
• Performance & Place: Explores site-specific, non-theatre based dance and performance work, considering site as a source for devising choreography alongside theoretical ideas of space and place.
• Preparing the Dance Artist for Work: Uses guest lectures, seminars, and practical sessions to guide students towards careers in dance, covering topics like connecting with dance companies and organizations, internships, graduate apprenticeships, self-employment, insurance, and DBS requirements.
• Research Methodologies: Develops a model for the dissertation project by building on previous dance knowledge and skills.
It covers research strategies, methodologies, and source materials, and cultivates a creative approach to research and writing.
• Scenography for Dance: Introduces the role of lighting and projection as scenographic elements in dance, addressing themes like visual composition, the experience of light, and the semiotics of performance.

Year Three

• Aerial Creative Lab 2: Focuses on devising process and strategies for working interdisciplinarily with dance, aerial, and physical theatre practices.
• Aerial Dance Techniques 3: Develops aerial dance skills through focused practice in three areas: horizontal (hoop or trapeze), vertical (rope or fabric), or vertical dance/harness work.
• Clowning and Physical Comedy: Introduces the history and development of clowning and physical comedy for performance, encouraging critical engagement with physical comedy and clown character in dance and physical theatre.
• Dance Techniques 3: Explores corporeal expressivity, breath, flow, weight, skeletal articulation, timing, space, and focus for skilled dance performance.
• Dissertation Project: Encourages students to demonstrate a systematic understanding of a key area of dance practice or research using written and/or practical methodologies.
• Interdisciplinary Arts Project: Develops a cohesive interdisciplinary production for various performance contexts, including local and national arts festivals, and international exchange between universities.
• Mask and Costume: Introduces the history and development of mask and costume for performance, encouraging critical engagement with the design and application of mask and costume in dance and physical theatre.

Assessment:

Students are assessed through a variety of methods including:

• Studio technique class assessments
• Live performances of choreography
• Written assignments for "Research Methodologies" and "Independent Study Project"
• A final written research project

Teaching:

Teaching is delivered by experienced and practicing dance practitioners who prioritize individual student growth.

• Typical study weeks include: up to 8 dance technique classes, supplemental training practices, lectures, seminars, tutorials, and studio-based workshops.
• Emphasis on practical experience: The course has a 70:30 ratio of practical to theory, with daily classes led by active dance practitioners.

Careers:

Graduates from this program have a wide range of career opportunities available to them, including:

• Dancers in established companies
• Independent dance artists and community practitioners
• Artistic directors
• Choreographers
• Dance teachers in secondary, primary, and college settings (after completing their PGCE training)
• Dance film makers
• Arts managers and producers
• Technical theatre managers
• Dance photographers
• Lecturers and researchers
• MA Performance: Dance
• MA Dance Research
• MA Choreography and Professional Practice
• MA Dance, Somatics and Dance Science
• MA Choreography (Independent Research)
• MA Dance: Advanced Practice

Other:

• The University of Chichester Dance Department has strong links with dance companies and organizations across the country, providing opportunities for work experience and placements.
• Students can participate in an international exchange program during their second year, experiencing new cultures and furthering their dance training.