Choreographic Practices
Postgraduate
MA
Dance: Choreography and Professional Practices
Salford School of Arts, Media and Creative Technology
Attendance
Full-time
Course
One year
Next enrolment
September 2023
In a nutshell
Immerse yourself in your choreographic practice and realise the next steps in your career as a professional choreographer by studying a master’s in dance choreography at Salford University.
Over three semesters, you'll explore the art and craft of dance choreography, as well as gain an understanding of what will be expected of you as a professional choreographer. You’ll learn how to work in a professional setting, putting together performances as a dance maker and collaborator.
You’ll focus on choreography from both an artistic and entrepreneurial perspective, exploring the creative practices involved in dance making, as well as what it’s like to work in the industry. You’ll learn how to collaborate creatively and have the opportunity to undertake an industry placement and final practice as a research project.
This master’s in choreography is designed to work with the rhythm of the professional field of dance, allowing you to continue to work on professional projects alongside your studies. For established choreographers, the part-time option enables you to develop a new professional project as part of your modules, allowing you to develop your professional practice alongside your studies.
Find out more by signing up for an upcoming Open Day.
You can also follow our Dance@Salford Instagram account and find helpful FAQs, learn more about student life at Salford or explore all our Dance courses.
International applicants: Please check the international intakes page for the latest information and application dates.
You will:
- Learn as part of a creative university with leading industry partnerships
- Benefit from relationships with Arts Council England and leading organisations such as Company Chameleon and The Lowry
- Develop as a dance professional, enabling you to pursue a sustainable career in the field
- Work with choreographers at all stages of their careers
- Have the opportunity to study full-time or part-time, to best fit with your current professional obligations
- Graduate with a portfolio of work that you can use in your wider career
Placement
options available
International
students accepted
This is for you if...
1.
You want to engage with creative trends and current issues within the field of professional dance and performance.
2.
You are keen to explore, experiment and take risks in your current choreographic practices.
3.
You have a desire to expand your professional skillset in producing, touring, workshop development and delivery.
All about the course
In the first trimester of this master’s in dance choreography course, you’ll dive head-first into an intensive module that brings together key concepts, theories, and practices used in modern choreography. You’ll learn through a combination of practical sessions and seminars in which you’ll look at, and discuss, the work of professional practitioners.
In your second trimester, you’ll take your studies a step further, looking at the use of research and experimentation in your creative practice, as well as methods of teaching in a workshop environment. You’ll gain a solid understanding of how to put together a small to mid-scale production tour.
You’ll put everything you’ve learned on this choreography master’s degree into practice in your final semester. Either by working collaboratively with a guest artist or postgraduate students from another course or by applying your learning within an Industry Placement. You’ll also complete a research-as-practice project or dissertation, drawing on everything you’ve learned and experienced throughout the course.
Studying on this programme, you’ll learn valuable choreographic skills and techniques and gain a solid understanding of what it takes to be a working professional in this industry.
Find out what you’ll cover in each module by taking a look at the full course breakdown below.
Semester one
This module interrogates key concepts, theories and practices inherent in contemporary choreographic practice. It integrates a mixture of practical workshops and seminars and is delivered in intensive 6-week blocks. The practical workshops will introduce a range of approaches to dance-making. The seminar series will include both screening and discussions of professional practitioners and their work.
Approaches To Dance Pedagogy
In this module, you will be introduced to the creative and physical techniques implicit in dance workshop development and delivery. This course explores the methods and practices of teaching dance, but specific to Community Dance setting, including areas such as:
- Engagement with current issues through dance experience.
- Inclusive Dance Practice
- Workshop design
- Educational aspects of dance performance and touring.
Semester two
Approaches To Dance Pedagogy
In this module, you will be introduced to the creative and physical techniques implicit in dance workshop development and delivery. This course explores the methods and practices of teaching dance, but specific to Community Dance setting, including areas such as:
- Engagement with current issues through dance experience.
- Inclusive Dance Practice
- Workshop design
- Educational aspects of dance performance and touring.
Choreographic Investigations
This module builds on your creative practices established in the first trimester, focusing more on the dance studio as a laboratory space: testing conventions, trying new approaches, challenging and re-thinking your own modes of dance making. Weekly practical workshops will be accompanied by a seminar series, addressing some broad strategies in creating performance, including:
- Practice as Research approaches
- Research and development
- Networks and critical friends
Producing For Small/Mid-Scale Touring
This online-based module digs into the knowledge, skills and professional context surrounding producing and touring. Taught by professional producers, this module deals with funding, programming, liaising with venues, programmers and technical teams, marketing and audience development. The content is designed to support skills in self-producing as a part of your portfolio career development.
Semester three
Practice-As-Research Project/Dissertation
In this final project, you will be asked to propose an area of exploration, arising from your experiences in the previous modules and focused on future work within profession. Upon submitting a proposal, you will be assigned a supervisor to support you on this journey of enquiry. Either individually or in collaboration with others, the results of these investigations will be presented at New Adelphi alongside a wider programme of dance performances and events.
Collaborative Practices In Dance
This practical, project based model delves into the creative possibilities and challenges inherent in interdisciplinary collaboration. You will work with guest artists and/or post graduate students from another discipline in developing a creative, interdisciplinary project. The creative projects will respond to opportunities emergent through the University of Salford’s industry partnerships and may include creative interrogation and exchange concerning:
- Site, space, and place
- Technology, Computing or Gaming
- Community and Pedagogy
- Architecture and Environment
Industry Placement
Please note that it may not be possible to deliver the full list of options every year as this will depend on factors such as how many students choose a particular option. Exact modules may also vary in order to keep content current. When accepting your offer of a place to study on this programme, you should be aware that not all optional modules will be running each year. Your tutor will be able to advise you as to the available options on or before the start of the programme. Whilst the University tries to ensure that you are able to undertake your preferred options, it cannot guarantee this.
BE A PART OF A CREATIVE, SUPPORTIVE COMMUNITY
All our Dance courses are delivered by the Salford School of Arts, Media, and Creative Technology. Our focus is to ensure that you have the skills you need to pursue your dreams, and we encourage our students, past and present, to collaborate with each other and achieve great things.
Each year - through the Create Student Awards – our School rewards the incredible achievements and successes of our final year and postgraduate students.
Whatever you choose to study with us, you’ll be mentored and supported by experts. And once you graduate, it won’t end there. You’ll join a thriving alumni network across Greater Manchester and beyond, meaning you’ll be supported professionally and personally whenever you need it.
Meet the dance teaching staff
Sarah Jane Lockwood, Programme Leader of MA Dance: Choreography and Professional Practices
Sarah is an experienced dance artist with a background in community arts and performance, dance pedagogy and socially engaged practice. When not lecturing at Salford, she works as a professional dance artist and project evaluator, delivering activity for a range of education and community arts providers across the North of England. In her previous post with Ludus Dance, Sarah worked as a Creative Programme Manager, delivering/managing a range of projects in grassroots, community performance, inclusive dance and talent development contexts. In recent years she has delivered projects in collaboration with Grand Theatre Blackpool, Ludus Dance, The Electric Sunshine Project and Maelstrom Theatre.
Contact Sarah Jane Lockwood or explore the Dance faculty at the University of Salford.
DANCE FACILITIES
This MA Dance: Choreography and Professional Practice degree course is based at our £55 million New Adelphi building, the home of performance and creativity on campus.
Our range of performance facilities include:
Dance studios – our industry-standard studios are where you’ll spend much of your time, honing your skills in a professional environment to best prepare you to enter the world of dance.
New Adelphi Theatre – this 350-seat venue provides opportunity for you to stage performances in front of live audiences. It also regularly hosts of professional shows and performances.
Studio theatre - this classic black-box performance space offers a more intimate venue than the New Adelphi Theatre. It features flexible seating and staging, so you can shape the space to meet your creative needs.
Explore our Dance facilities at New Adelphi, or take a 360 tour of our New Adelphi building.
What about after uni?
EMPLOYMENT
Completing a master’s in dance choreography will equip you with the skills to succeed in a range of environments in the cultural sector.
You’ll be set to move into a variety of careers, such as becoming a professional dancer, choreographer or dance teacher. You may also choose to move into a related role such as working in arts administration for a theatre or dance company.
You’ll have a deep understanding of choreographic approaches, understanding of current practice and production, policy and legislation in the arts, as well as transferrable skills preparing you for wide range of careers across the sector. Your ability to research, develop and deliver ideas in a creative and professional way will be highly valued by many employers.
FURTHER STUDY
Graduates showing strong academic and research skills can pursue a further academic research path through our doctoral (PhD) programmes on a full-time or part-time basis subject to a satisfactory proposal.
Career Links
This programme has links with a number of industry bodies, including Joss Arnott Dance, The Lowry and Company Chameleon.
In addition, we have an annual dance artist-in-residence scheme which has engaged with companies such as Company Chameleon, Hawk Dance Theatre, Kapow Dance Theatre, along with many independent dance artists. These schemes bring workshops, apprenticeships, performance and project opportunities, as well as mentoring opportunities to our dance students. We also hold intensive masterclasses each academic year, hosting a range of national and international dance artists to work with our under- and postgraduate dance students. This recently included working with choreographers Phoenix Dance and Company Chameleon, among many others.
What you need to know
APPPLICANT PROFILE
To gain a place on this MA Dance Choreography and Professional Practice degree, you’ll have to submit a personal statement and meet our entry requirements when you apply.
Within your personal statement (up to 500 words), we’ll want to understand:
• what motivates you and what current experiences do you have in terms of choreography?
• how have you been involved and what did you do?
• which choreography performances inspire you?
• why do you want to work in the performance and dance sector?
• and why the University of Salford and this degree is the right choice for your future goals.
For some applicants, you’ll be asked to provide us with a portfolio of work and potentially take part in an informal group seminar discussion/interview or audition– either live or on camera – to demonstrate your skills.
You may be invited to campus for an audition. Once you’ve made your application to study with us, we’ll contact you and let you know the next steps.
Standard entry requirements
Standard entry requirements
To join this MA you should have a second class honours degree, 2:2 or above.
International students
If you are an international student and not from a majority English speaking country, you will need IELTS 6.5 with no element below 5.5. We accept qualifications from all around the world. Find your country to see a full list of entry requirements.
We also accept a range of other English language qualifications. If you do not have the English language requirements, you could take our Pre-Sessional English course.
Alternative entry requirements
Accreditation of Prior Learning (APL)
We welcome applications from students who may not have formal/traditional entry criteria but who have relevant experience or the ability to pursue the course successfully.
The Accreditation of Prior Learning (APL) process could help you to make your work and life experience count. The APL process can be used for entry onto courses or to give you exemptions from parts of your course.
Two forms of APL may be used for entry: the Accreditation of Prior Certificated Learning (APCL) or the Accreditation of Prior Experiential Learning (APEL).
How much?
| Type of study | Year | Fees |
|---|---|---|
| Full-time home | 2023/24 | £8,550per year |
| Full-time international | 2023/24 | £15,750per year |
Additional costs
You should also consider further costs which may include books, stationery, printing, binding and general subsistence on trips and visits.
Scholarships for International Students
If you are a high-achieving international student, you may be eligible for one of our scholarships. Explore our international scholarships.