Dance

Contemporary dance is one of the most physically and intellectually demanding disciplines in the performing arts. It encompasses a vast range of movement vocabularies and creative approaches, from the somatic and improvisational to the technically precise and choreographically structured, and it is constantly evolving as artists borrow from, question, and reinvent its traditions. Studying contemporary dance at degree level means training your body and your mind simultaneously, developing physical skill and artistry alongside critical thinking about what dance is, what it does, and what it can mean.

The Northern School of Contemporary Dance is one of the UK's most respected specialist institutions for the training of dancers and choreographers, and this three-year full-time degree provides both rigorous technical training and a broad artistic education. You will develop your movement skills across a range of contemporary and related techniques, while also studying choreographic practice, improvisation, performance, dance history and theory, and the physical and psychological dimensions of dance training. The learning environment is intensive and studio-based, as it must be for a practice that lives in the body as much as in the intellect.

Performance opportunities and the development of your own creative practice are woven through the degree from the beginning. You will learn to work collaboratively with other dancers and choreographers, to take and give direction, and to inhabit both performer and maker roles. Critical reflection on your own practice, informed by dance history and theory, is a skill the degree develops alongside the physical and creative ones.

Graduates in contemporary dance work as performers in professional companies, as freelance dancers and choreographers, as dance teachers and workshop leaders in schools, community settings, and health contexts, and in choreographic and directorial roles across the performing arts. The arts administration, production, and cultural management sectors also draw on dance graduates with a range of professional skills. Postgraduate study in dance, choreography, or related fields is an option for those who want to develop their research or artistic practice further.