Dance

Dance as an academic and practice-based discipline encompasses performance, choreography, and critical enquiry into the history, theory, and cultural significance of movement. It is a field that takes the body seriously as a site of meaning, skill, and expression, examining how physical training and artistic intention combine to produce performances that communicate ideas and emotions that words alone cannot carry. Dance studies also asks broader questions about how movement practices are shaped by culture, gender, race, and history, and how dance has functioned in rituals, entertainment, politics, and community life across different societies and periods.

At the University of Gloucestershire, you will study Dance over three years, full time, in a programme that combines practical training and artistic development with intellectual engagement with the discipline. You will develop your technical skills and performance abilities alongside work in choreography, improvisation, and collaborative artistic practice. You will study the history of dance, from classical forms and folk traditions to contemporary and postmodern dance, and engage with critical theory that helps you situate your own practice in relation to broader artistic and cultural conversations.

Gloucestershire's focus on creative practice in a supportive environment makes space for both personal artistic development and rigorous academic work, and you will build a portfolio of practical and written work over the three years.

Graduates of dance programmes pursue careers as performers, choreographers, dance teachers, dance movement therapists, arts educators, community dance practitioners, and arts administrators. Dance in education, health settings, and community contexts has expanded the range of professional roles available to dance graduates beyond the traditional performing arts sector. Further study options include postgraduate degrees in dance, choreography, arts education, dance movement therapy, and performance studies, as well as professional development routes in specific dance forms and teaching qualifications.