Bath Spa University

MA in Dance

This course includes or offers the following modules. Please check the program document for more information on which modules are core, required, or optional.

• Creative Practice 1
• Contemporary Issues and Perspectives
• Collaborative Engagement
• Creative Practice 2
• Professional Practice
• Final Major Project

Creative Practice One
This module provides you with an opportunity to explore and develop an area of your creative practice and will lead to you completing a new creative work. This might take the form of, for example, a performance, an installation, a film, or a combination of these and/or other different media. The module provides space for you to be adventurous in your process, exploring creative options that push the boundaries of your practice into new territory.

Contemporary Issues and Perspectives
This module will encourage you to engage in a range of ideas that are pertinent to current debates within the field. The module proposes that the exploration of different cultural-political perspectives can deepen your understanding of dance as both an artistic form and an embodied phenomenon. You'll be introduced to a selection of topic areas that will develop your understanding of dance as a cultural phenomenon. The aim is to promote the critical thinking skills that are necessary for you to be able to engage in a selection of key debates and trends within the discipline.

Collaborative Engagement
This module allows you to explore a range of approaches that artists may use when working together within creative contexts. The module is centered around inquiry, experimentation, playfulness, and risk-taking, and after the project, reflection on these processes. The module creates the opportunity for you to engage with discourses surrounding different approaches to collaborative practice, and to extend your artistic experiences into new territories by engaging with the creative processes of others through shared experiences.

Creative Practice Two
This module enables you to build on your knowledge and understanding of creative practices as artistic, political, social, and cultural phenomena within a practical research framework. You'll be introduced to embodied approaches to generating knowledge through a series of seminars and practical workshops. The study program leads you to build a portfolio of work that evidences how your research interests have been explored through creative practice. The module aims to deepen your practice as a performer/maker through interrogation, reflection, and dissemination.

Professional Practice
This module provides you with the opportunity to develop your knowledge and understanding of the demands of the professional dance arena. The module is designed to support you in exploring your career aims; whether that's to work as a choreographer, filmmaker, director, community practitioner, or pursue further research in the field. You'll plan and carry out a project in response to a professional context/opportunity of your choosing. Throughout the module, you'll examine how the creative industries function, develop an understanding of how to build creative networks, and expand your professional opportunities.

Final Major Project
This module requires you to undertake a significant project that consolidates and builds on the skills, knowledge, and experience that you have acquired in the previous trimesters. The content and form of your final submission, which will ideally be a seminal work in your development as an artist/researcher, should be entirely defined by you. The form of your project might be for example; a completely written thesis, a performance work for stage or site, a performance accompanied by critical analysis and or a lecture demonstration, a film or collection of films and writing, an installation, or a combination of any the above in a manner that builds a coherent integrated product.

What you'll learn

Overview

Our postgraduate Dance course supports a broad range of artistic practices and includes specialisms in screen-based dance practice, interdisciplinary performance work, and site-based performance.

We'll support you in developing your postgraduate-level research skills, which will help you develop your creative practice. In addition, collaborative opportunities form a key part of the program, enabling you to work across art forms with other practitioners.

Course structure

This MA Dance course will take one year. As a full-time student, you’ll take one 30-credit module and two 15-credit modules in term one, two 30-credit modules in term two, and one 60-credit module (your final project) in term three.

Trimester one

This trimester has a substantial taught element, with several optional classes.

Trimester two

Following your first trimester, your second also has a substantial taught element, with optional classes available.

Trimester three

Trimester three, your thesis module, is largely self-directed, with tutorials and peer presentations leading to course completion.

How will I be assessed?

You'll be assessed through a range of methods including performances/screenings, presentations, written work, and journals. Practical project assessment may focus on your creative process as well as the final product. All work is assessed against generic criteria so you can compare your achievements against your previous work.

Having a postgraduate qualification opens up a range of options in the world of dance-related work and beyond.

You’ll be positioned to become a choreographer, performer, teacher, screendance maker, or any combination of these things. We’ll support you to develop versatility and understanding of how to market and present your work in a professional manner, so we can help you to graduate with the entrepreneurial skills needed to succeed in a challenging but inspirational workplace.

How will I be taught?

Weekly seminars form the central axis of the course. These are complemented by optional dance skills classes including technique and choreography, or additional research seminars. Study will also be strengthened by one-off events and intensive weekends where you’ll work with tutors and visiting artists.

Course length

One year full-time or two years part-time.