BA (Hons) Professional Dance

Program Overview

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The University of Sunderland's BA (Hons) Professional Dance program equips students with the skills, knowledge, and understanding for diverse careers in dance, including performance, choreography, education, management, and production. Led by experienced dance professionals, the program emphasizes technical proficiency, artistic expression, and critical thinking, preparing graduates for success in the competitive dance industry. Through collaborations with Dance City and renowned guest choreographers, students gain invaluable practical experience and industry connections.

Program Outline

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University of Sunderland - BA (Hons) Professional Dance

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Degree Overview:

This professionally oriented dance course equips students with skills, knowledge, and understanding for a diverse range of careers, such as:

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Performance and choreography:

• Joining companies like balletLORENT, Company of Others, Hit the Ground Running Dance Theatre Company, Lo-Giudice Dance, Fertile Ground, Tavaziva Dance, and Anna Watkins Dance Company.
• Creating independent works as individual artists such as Beth Veitch, Benedicta Valentina, Alyssa Lisle, and Lila Naruse.

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Dance education and community practice:

• Engaging in successful teaching and facilitation roles with organizations like Phoenix Dance Theatre, Royal Grammar School, Dance City Engagement Team, Dame Allan’s, One Day Creative, Circus Central, and various private dance schools.

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Dance management and production:

• Establishing careers as arts managers, producers, and administrators, managing own production companies, festivals, and arts organizations like Moving Arts Management and Curious Arts.

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Postgraduate study:

• Pursuing further education in dance-related fields.

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Additional Features:

• Course offered in collaboration with North East dance organisation, Dance City.
• Led by experienced dance professionals who have been performers, choreographers, teachers, managers, or academics within the industry.
• Combines the benefits of University of Sunderland resources and support with Dance City's studio environment.
• Emphasizes developing a strong technical foundation in contemporary dance practices through daily training.
• Provides opportunities to create original works and design individual technical development pathways through a program aligned with Dance City's public classes in commercial, ballet, tap, Bollywood, street dance and breaking, salsa, jazz, and ballroom, alongside pilates and yoga.
• Collaboration with renowned guest choreographers for creating original dance pieces performed within the Dance City theatre.
• Focus on developing individual artistry in a collaborative environment.

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Overall:

This program aims to prepare graduates for diverse and multi-faceted careers in the dance sector and beyond, enabling them to thrive in various roles and settings. It provides a foundation of support and care to allow each student to make the most of their opportunities. The program emphasizes both technical proficiency and creative development, fostering well-rounded artists and practitioners ready for the professional world.

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Outline:

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Year 1:

• Dance Technique and Performance 1: Develops a solid technical basis in contemporary dance practices, recognizing individual progress, and applying technique in performance settings.
Covers dynamics of technical movement, strength, stamina, and flexibility within artistic and musical contexts.
• Choreographing History: Explores choreography's historical and contemporary contexts, focusing on different roles of choreographers across time and space, and resulting variations in other creative roles.
Examines key points in dance history including imperial, romantic ballet eras, modernism, postmodernism, conceptual dance, and Afrofuturism. Applies dance and movement analysis models like Adshead's or Laban's.
• Managing Dance: Introduces various roles within dance, understanding project and organization management.
Gains insight into project planning from historical and current dance projects, reflecting on how to ensure realistic, achievable, and impactful plans. Critically reflects on ensuring project accessibility and inclusion, considering logistics and costs for diversity policies.
• The Arts and Social Change: Addresses how art can facilitate change through education, community activities, individual artists' efforts, and explores the relationship between art and community, recognizing how art influences activism and vice versa.
Analyzes examples of dance leaders, exploring leadership, and community engagement in dance practice. Develops tools to support the work of socially engaged artists.
• Guided Project: Prepares students for the year 3 Festival Project through workshops and shadowing, learning management, production, or marketing skills.
Students choose an area focusing on time management, rehearsal planning, scheduling, curating, and collaboration for managing a dance festival (management), recording and assisting choreographic processes and performances, shadowing technical aspects (production), or supporting, creating, and sharing content on social media (marketing).
• Introduction to Reflexive Dance Practice: Develops an understanding of individual and collaborative roles within national and global arts contexts.
Engages with historical and current critical reflection skills and practices in dance discourse and industry, fostering individual growth. Explores a wide range of reflective practices relevant to professional dance and other creative industries, gaining understanding and sharing strategies to navigate their place within the creative industries.

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Year 2:

• Dance Technique and Performance 2: Builds on year 1 learning, deepening knowledge and practical execution of dance technique through an examination of contemporary practices.
Explores how different techniques complement each other, and technical methods for developing artistry and movement dynamics. Enhances physical ability and performance tools, contributing choreographic ideas to process, training, and performance, focusing on practical exploration and experimental practice.
• Choreographing the Contemporary in Facilitating Dance: Focuses on personal creation within the current choreographic landscape, exploring key practitioners within the context of contemporary practices.
Explores dance and movement analysis, facilitating engagement with choreographic works and processes. Learns roles of dance teachers, leaders, artists, and practitioners. Understands different learning approaches and factors contributing to healthy learning environments, including inclusive dance practice and barriers to learning. Examines principles of safe and effective practice, gaining an anatomical perspective on dancing bodies, dance in formal education, and legal requirements for dance practitioners. Explores teaching dance in practice, including inclusive session planning, group management, engagement sustainability, developing and refining practice, and peer-to-peer teaching practice.
• Placement Project: Provides an introduction to roles and careers within the dance industry, showcasing examples from dance professionals and their career journeys.
Gains insights into career demands, creating realistic expectations, understanding necessary skills and experience for various career paths. Analyzes and reflects on career expectations within the industry, examining role responsibilities, and daily activities. Evaluates placement experience and applies learning to future career prospects and interests.
• Reflexive Practice, the Choreographic, and the Creative Industries: Develops an understanding of individual and collaborative roles within national and global arts contexts.
Engages with historical and current critical reflection skills and practices in dance discourse and industry, fostering individual growth. Explores a wide range of reflective practices relevant to professional dance and other creative industries, gaining understanding and sharing strategies to navigate their place within the creative industries.

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Year 3:

• Dance Technique and Performance 3: Develops the ability to contribute to process and performance at the advanced, pre-professional level of contemporary dance practices, relevant to styles covered within the module.
Explores a range of contemporary practices to enhance understanding of how to use technical and performance skills in professional settings, expanding interpretive, creative, and physical abilities as artistic and expressive dance practitioners and collaborators. Works with guest artists to create and evolve dance works towards performance opportunities.
• Producing and Curating Dance: Builds on earlier modules to understand resource-seeking, negotiation, and acquisition processes, including venues, personnel, equipment, and funding.
Explores contemporary practices of programming and curating dance venues, seasons, festivals, and events. Draws on historical and contemporary dance knowledge for program analysis, considers creative responses through curation. Addresses contemporary concerns regarding access and inclusion, such as relaxed performances and online programs. Gains an introduction to documentation and program/event evaluation. Examines and explores tools for managing activity, including deal memos, production documents, and technical specifications.
• Festival Project: Conceive an individual project within the collective festival and realize a choreographic, pedagogical, research, or other outcome for assessment according to career projections and desired outcomes.
Collaborate to fulfill the festival, negotiate roles and responsibilities, producing the festival independently with supervision. Develop and explore documentation, reflection, and critical analysis formats to consider creative and critical portfolio details. Examine principles, methods, and theories of practice to unfold knowledge generation potential within individual and collaborative work.
• The Reflective Dance Practitioner: Extends development of critical reflective practice towards the professional level relevant to current dance discourse and engagement, career, and employment.
Explores an advanced level of agency, independence, and specificity with critical reflective strategies and skills, through a professional placement in a dance-related context.

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Assessment:

Assessment methods vary across modules, with examples including:

• Dance Technique and Performance: Technical proficiency assessments, performance, choreographic exploration, and critical reflection.
• Choreographing History and Choreographing the Contemporary: Written assignments analyzing historical contexts and choreographic approaches, practical demonstrations of choreographic creations, and critical reflections.
• Management Modules: Critical analyses of case studies, project proposals, and presentations.
• Arts and Social Change: Reflective journals, essays, community project proposals, and presentations.
• Production and Curating Dance: Development and presentation of program/festival proposals, documentation of curatorial work, written analysis, and reflective essays.
• Festival Project: Individual or group project creation and presentation in chosen outcome format (choreographic work, research paper, etc.
), accompanied by reflective writing documenting project development, process, and final outcome.
• Placement Project: Reflective journal entries and final portfolio showcasing learning and insights from placement experience.

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Teaching:

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Teaching approaches:

• Focuses on developing technical proficiency, artistic expression, and critical thinking skills.
• Employs a blend of practical training, theoretical study, and critical reflection.
• Encourages collaboration with peers and visiting professionals.
• Utilizes studios at Dance City, offering a professional training environment.

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Faculty:

• Experienced dance professionals with backgrounds as performers, choreographers, teachers, managers, or academics.
• Active within the dance industry, bringing current trends and insights into teaching.
• Committed to providing individualized support and guidance throughout the program.

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Unique Teaching Features:

• Collaboration with professional choreographers and artists for workshops, masterclasses, and performance creation opportunities.
• Individual technical development through access to Dance City's public class program in various styles.
• Extensive practical studio training, providing a strong foundation in contemporary dance techniques.
• Emphasis on critical reflection and development of self-awareness as artists and practitioners.
• Access to the resources and support offered by the University of Sunderland, alongside Dance City's industry connections and facilities.

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Careers:

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Graduates have pursued careers across various areas within the dance industry, including:

• Dance performance and choreography: Ballet companies, independent companies, self-employed as artists.
• Dance education and community practice: Teaching in schools, dance studios, and community settings, facilitating dance-based projects and programs.
• Dance management and production: Managing arts organizations, producing dance festivals and events, working as freelance arts managers and producers.
• Postgraduate study: Continuing education in dance-related fields at renowned institutions.

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Program prepares graduates for various roles such as:

• Performers
• Choreographers
• Dance teachers and facilitators
• Arts managers
• Producers
• Arts administrators

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Other:

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Additional program highlights:

• Designed by leading dance professionals.
• Provides a foundation of support and care.
• Empowers graduates to create their dance futures.
• Offers unique career and development opportunities through Dance City's industry partnerships.
• Encourages collaboration with renowned choreographers and guest artists.
• Provides students with a challenging environment for growth in all areas- physically, socially, and creatively.
Please let me know if you have any other questions!

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The annual, full-time fee for this course is: £9,250 if you're from the UK/Ireland/EU settled/pre-settled Please note this course isn't available to international students.