Master of Fine Arts - Dance and Embodied Practice

University of Roehampton

As a dancer with an interest in expanding their skills, this practice-based programme will help students to investigate the potential of their studio practice and training in order to apply their dance practice as a creative and improvisational tool and as a practice-research which has the potential to influence culture and society.

The programme includes technique classes, choreography workshops, collaborative working, writing and reflection. Students will be encouraged to develop and test new ideas and skills in dance ‘laboratory’ situations in order to research and practise notions of dance facilitation, dance teaching, dance leadership, dance intervention and dance-making in a variety of contexts. This unique practice-based programme promotes understanding of the notions of wellbeing and safe, healthy dance practice, and relates directly to social, political and cultural issues around embodiment, community and the environment.

This programme investigates the application of dance practice and knowledge in a wide and ambitious range of artistic, educational and community contexts, and, less conventionally, in galleries, museums and outdoor sites. Students will be supported by the mentorship and teaching of experienced staff in the University of Roehampton's modern studios and have the opportunity to gain experience with in-house and visiting artists and tutors alongside a diverse community of peers.

Students will also have the opportunity to undertake an independent project which uses original practice-research and is underpinned by tutorials, peer review, work experience and open rehearsals. Students will also have access to the full range of optional modules which are offered to all postgraduate students.

The School is home to the internationally-recognised Centre for Dance Research where, together with inquiry into dance as cultural and artistic expression, students are encouraged to investigate a broad range of dance and somatic practices as they are deployed in performative and choreographic situations and experienced though the lived body. These artistic activities are positioned as both critical, scholarly enquiry and creative, imaginative assembly, both of which are essential tools for the development of original and independent approaches to teaching and facilitating dance.

The University of Roehampton is within easy reach of London's lively dance culture and the campus has superb studios and a state-of-the-art theatre for dance students. The University of Roehampton has excellent links with dance companies and creative organisations to provide stimulating workplace-learning opportunities.