Fontys University of Applied Sciences

Bachelor Dance | Dance Arts in Context

Our courses are designed specifically to foster both individual creativity and personal excellence to enable our students to have reach, ambition, and impact in the world of today. This course hones, identifies, and develops the transferrable skills needed to take up significant positions throughout the performing arts field and the wider society.

Inclusive Dance and Movement Practice: the transferrable skills of the dance artist, an international Erasmus+ Project, will support this further with a co-created online platform for dance professionals.

At the heart of everything we do and believe is a profound commitment to collaboration, which is why the graduates of the Contemporary, Contemporary Urban, and Bachelor in Choreography profiles are expected to collaborate with other arts disciplines in different locations, both inside and outside of traditional theatre spaces. The creative conversation that takes place between these disciplines, and between the artists and their audiences, is what Fontys Dance Arts in Context is all about.

Years 1 and 2

An academic year consists of two terms of 15 weeks each and a third one of 9 weeks. This means that you are actively involved in your studies for a period of some 40 weeks each year.

Your curriculum is scheduled between 9.00 a.m. and 9.00 p.m. You attend classes and carry out assignments, individually and in a team. Examinations are scheduled at the end of each term.

Your average weekly workload is 40 hours, including 30 contact hours. The number of weekly 90-minute practical classes amounts to 15, on top of 4 theory classes. All these activities are located both inside and outside the school. Attending performances is part of the curriculum.

Contemporary and Contemporary Urban are two branches of training that share the same basic program, although they differ in elaboration and specialization.

Basic programme
Weekly classes: Ballet, Contemporary, Modern, Improvisation, Performance Studies, Creation, Movement Research, Yoga, Pilates, Choreography, History, Dramaturgy, Communication, Anatomy.

Projects: Students working with guest choreographers, projects where students are guided in developing their work, interdisciplinary projects, projects in public space, and other spaces/contexts.

Specific to Contemporary: extra classes in Contemporary, improvisation, and Butoh.

Specific to Contemporary Urban: Weekly classes in Urban dance as created in the 1980s in the American urban subculture. This includes Hiphop (popping, locking, B-boying, and house) and Authentic Jazz.

In addition, the course offers non-European urban styles such as Contemporary African dance, and fusion techniques such as Physical Dynamics.

Year 3

In Year 3, you will work (in addition to training in your choice of ballet, urban, contemporary, or embodied-based practices) on projects with the field, which you choose yourself from the extensive range of courses. You choose which project you want to do so that you also have time and space to do your Free Choice activities and you can plan any activities abroad.

After completing your second year, you can choose the graduate profile Choreography, with an emphasis on creative dance artists, the art of choreography, and giving shape to dance. A broad view of dance and creating in dance is central here. The program aims at students with an individual and artistic vision who have the intrinsic urge to make their ‘own’ and ‘innovative’ work. This is also determined by the personal affinity with the art of dance. During your third year, you create five choreographies as a preparation for professional practice.

Year 4

Dance Arts in Context

Graduating in Dance Arts in Context requires a six-month internship during the fourth academic year. To do so, you become a member of one or several companies, or you join small-scale productions, at home or abroad. You can also do your internship at an educational institution abroad.

Choreography

As a graduate in Choreography, you create five choreographies. To create your graduation choreography during your fourth year, you work together with professional dancers in a professional setting outside Fontys Academy of the Arts. In addition, you do elaborate field research into a dance company or a choreographer of your own choice.

What are you going to learn

We place our students at the centre of a fantastic team of teachers and choreographers, in exceptional training facilities, alongside 15 other art programmes ranging from Circus and Architecture to Visual Arts and Music. Authentic, curious, and distinctive dance artists work in an inclusive learning environment, where individual growth and cooperative exploration are equally prized. Practical work is underpinned by an extensive and rigorous training and research programme that includes a wide range of performance and movement practices. We educate our students to create, think, and produce collaboratively. They become dance makers and dance leaders who have their voice, who take ownership of their careers, and who go on to take up meaningful positions in both the performing arts field and wider society.

• You’ll become a dance maker and leader with your own signature.
• Practice is supported by training and research.
• The programme thoroughly prepares you for taking up meaningful positions in arts and society.

We educate our students to create, think, and produce collaboratively. They become dance makers and dance leaders who have their voice, who take ownership of their careers, and who go on to take up meaningful positions throughout both the performing arts field and wider society. Take a look at our Digital Stage graduates and our alumnni network page.

• Professional dancer
• Choreographer
• Creative producer