Dance students arching bodies backwards

Dance & Choreography BA(Hons)

Launch your career as both a dancer and an artist with this skills-focused dance degree.

Key details
Location
Penryn Campus
Course duration
3 years
Attendance
Full-time
UCAS code
W511

Course overview

You’ll benefit from the collaborative environment at AMATA, where you’ll have the opportunity to work with students from multiple disciplines and gain access to world-class dance studios, as well as practice and performance spaces. Throughout this course, you’ll explore the twin strands of dance and choreography, developing your own innovative practice.

You will:

  • Develop your physical and technical skills, as well as performance and choreographic capabilities, while engaging with dance histories, theories and contexts
  • Build industry links through workshops, guest lectures and visits from celebrated international practitioners such as Company Chameleon, Ballet Lorent and Siobhan Davies
  • Benefit from AMATA’s year-round performance programme, which attracts top artists and performers from all over the world, such as Aakash Odedra Company and Jamaal Burkmar
  • Learn to utilise our extensive range of technical sound, lighting and recording equipment, to enable and realise your production ideas and visions

Course details

Our course structure, teaching and world-class facilities will provide you with time and space to develop physical, technical and critical capabilities.

On this dance degree, you'll receive a thorough grounding in dance techniques and develop your own innovative performance and choreographic practice.

There will be opportunities for collaboration and cross-disciplinary practice, and to engage with the wider communities of the contemporary dance industry. This dance & choreography degree will enable you to make creative contributions to a range of professional arts contexts within which dance plays a vital role.

BA(Hons) Dance & Choreography Course Video

You'll explore and challenge your ideas of performance and choreography, make and perform work in different settings and locations, and develop strategies for making connections between practice and theory.

Modules

Contemporary Techniques & Improvisation
Performance & Choreographic Practices
Embodied Learning: Theories & Practices
Contemporary Techniques & Improvisation 2
Dance Cultures, Histories & Practices
Site-Based Practices

You'll continue to develop your technical and creative skills, while developing your specialist interest in choreography or performance. You'll further develop your research skills, gain a greater understanding of the contexts for your practice and start to consider your own future in dance.

Modules

Performance & Choreographic Skills
Dance Futures
Applied Techniques
Researching Dance: Theories & Contexts

Optional modules

Devising Performance
Choreography in Context
Cross-Disciplinary Performance
Choreographing the Screen

Taking charge of your learning, you'll undertake two research projects (one practical and one written), both of which focus on your chosen areas of interest. Throughout the year, you'll advance your physical training and creative and choreographic skills. This culminates in a professional practice project, in which you'll collaborate to produce, market, choreograph and perform an original work for public performance.

Modules

Written Research Project
Practical Research Project
Advanced Bodywork 1
Advanced Bodywork 2
Professional Practice Project

The modules above are those being studied by our students, or proposed new ones. Programme structures and modules can change as part of our curriculum enhancement and review processes. If a certain module is important to you, please discuss it with the Course Leader.

How you'll learn

As part of this innovative choreography and dance degree, you'll participate in dance classes, workshops, seminars, lectures and self-generated projects. Based in a supportive environment, you'll be encouraged to push your practice though taking creative risks.

You'll work both individually and collaboratively and have the chance to grow alongside professional artists and our industry partners.

At Falmouth, we use a 'digitally enhanced learning & teaching' approach. Your experience will always be predominantly in-person, including seminars, tutorials and studio teaching, with some, more targeted elements, being online either live (synchronous) or pre-recorded (asynchronous). You can read more here.

How you'll spend your time

Year

Timetabled teaching

and learning activity

Guided

independent study

Placements

1

40%

60%

0%

2

37%

63%

0%

3

29%

60%

11%

 

How you'll be assessed

Year

Written exams

Practical exams

Coursework

1

0%

67%

33%

2

0%

76%

24%

3

0%

86%

14%

The above percentages relate to 2019/2020 data.

Assessment methods

Assessment is both practical and written, ranging from presentations of practical work, essays and case studies, to performances and video projects.

Assessed practical work is shown in either a studio context to staff and peers or to public audiences on and off campus.

What our students do

Read about the students and graduates from our Academy of Music & Theatre Arts community.

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Staff

The dance staff are all professional practicing artists from the fields of performance, choreography, dance pedagogy, dance on screen and dance research.

Some members of staff only teach on specific modules, and your course might not feature every staff member who teaches on the course.

Dr Sue Smith

Course Leader, Dance & Choreography BA(Hons)

I became Course Leader in summer 2021 having worked with colleagues in dance, acting and theatre as ...

Dr Sue Smith

Simon Birch

Senior Lecturer, BA(Hons) Dance & Choreography

In addition to my post at Falmouth University, I am a freelance choreographer, rehearsal director, m...

Simon Birch

Angus McLean Balbernie

Associate Lecturer, Choreography

Angus McLean Balbernie has created around 85 pieces, worked and taught around the earth, including m...

Angus McLean Balbernie

Dr Katrina Brown

Senior Lecturer Dance & Choreography

Dr. Katrina Brown is a choreographer with an interdisciplinary hybrid practice across movement,...

Dr Katrina Brown

Dr Ruth Pethybridge

Senior Lecturer, Dance

Dr Ruth Pethybridge is a choreographer, facilitator and researcher. She has delivered dance in ...

Dr Ruth Pethybridge

Kuldip Singh-Barmi

Senior Lecturer, BA(Hons) Dance & Choreography

Kuldip's fascination with the body and its capability for expression and physical exploration throug...

Kuldip Singh-Barmi

Grace Sellwood

Associate Lecturer in Dance

I'm a dance performer, dance teacher, aerial performer, matwork and aerial pilates instructor,&...

Grace Sellwood

Paul Joines

Technical Tutor

Since graduating in ‘Broadcast Studies’ from Falmouth College of Arts in 1996, Paul has spent ov...

Paul Joines
Emily Alden staff profile

Emily Dobson

Associate Lecturer in Dance & Choreography

Emily (Dobson) Alden is a dancer and choreographer who works across dance and theatre, liv...

Emily Dobson

Amely Instance

Associate Lecturer, Ballet Technique

After graduating in 1993 from the Royal Academy of Dance, I joined Angela Praed's contemporary dance...

Amely Instance

"With state of the art facilities, on a picturesque campus with creative art subjects close by for collaboration, the BA(Hons) Dance & Choreography course at Falmouth is at the forefront of developing the next generation of dance artists. Led by experienced artists and lecturers who have nationally and internationally recognised careers, the course provides a fertile space for the nurturing and development of the skills young dancers need to take their practice to another level."

Kevin Edward Turner, Co-Artistic Director of Company Chameleon

Facilities

  • Two 200-capacity flexible performance spaces.
  • 11 high-specification performance and rehearsal studios, featuring production lighting, projection and sound facilities.
  • 700m2 of fully sprung dance floors.
  • Analogue and digital recording complex.
  • Breakout areas.
  • Professional theatre venue hosting visiting companies and artistes.
Performance Facilities Image
Performance - AMATA

Performance Facilities

The Academy of Music and Theatre Arts (AMATA) is a purpose-built live venue housing an assembly of f...

Performance Facilities
Library interior with 'group study' written on large pillar and students reading
Penryn library group study area

Library Facilities

Offering extensive collections, our two libraries provide a wealth of digital resources, magazines, ...

Library Facilities
Falmouth University Sports Centre building exterior with blue sky and a path
Sports Centre - Outside
Sports Centre

Sports Centre

Our Sports Centre, on Penryn Campus, includes a spacious gym with up to 90 of the latest, new statio...

Sports Centre

Careers

Our dance & choreography graduates have worked as:

  • Dancers
  • Choreographers
  • Dance production and management consultants
  • Arts and health practitioners
  • Educators
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Dance & Choreography graduate produces 2020 Rhythms

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Commissioned by East London Dance through their The Fi.ELD (Future Innovators. East London Dance) pr...

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Soaring Success

13 February 2019

High-flyer, Amy Nicholls, is equally happy whether she's writing an Arts Council funding application...

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Industry Insights with Professional Dancer

13 September 2018

Since graduating in 2016, Dance & Choreography alumnus Bakani Pick-Up has been featured as a dan...

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How to apply

Apply via UCAS

Ready to join us? You can apply for September 2022 through Clearing or for September 2023 through UCAS Apply and Track. You'll need to reference the course and University code (F33).

Apply through Clearing 2022

Apply for 2023

Applying as an international student? 

International students can apply for a course through UCAS, via an agent or directly with the university. For more information about how to apply as an international student, visit our International applications page.

International applications

Course route UCAS code
Dance & Choreography BA(Hons) three year degree W511

We consider all applications on their own individual merit and potential. We invite all applicants to an interview day or audition to give them the opportunity to demonstrate this along with what inspires and motivates them in their field. Applicants will also be able to show their portfolio or give a performance depending on the course. We welcome applications from all subject backgrounds, whether you’ve specialised in STEM, the arts or humanities.  

Course route Entry requirements
BA/BSc(Hons) three year degree 104 – 120 UCAS Tariff points

UCAS Tariff points will primarily be from Level 3 qualifications such as but not limited to A-levels, T Levels, a BTEC/UAL Extended Diploma or a Foundation Diploma.

Check how many points your qualifications are worth

For applicants whose first language is English we require you to have or be working towards GCSE English Language Grade 4 (C), or equivalent. 

If English is not your first language you will need to meet the same standard which is equivalent to the IELTS Academic 6.0 overall score, with at least 5.5 in Reading, Writing, Speaking and Listening. We accept a range of in country equivalencies and approved tests.  

If you need a student visa to study in the UK, you'll need to take a recognised language test that is approved and vouched for by the University. You can read our English Language Requirements for more information.

For starting your studies in 2022

UK applications: 26 January 2022 (for equal consideration)

Applications after the 26 January will be considered on a first-come, first-served as long as there are places available. Apply for this course now.

For starting your studies in 2023

UK applications: 25 January 2023 (for equal consideration)

Applications after the 25 January will be considered on a first-come, first-served as long as there are places available. Apply for this course now.

International fee payers

International fee payers can apply throughout the year. But we recommend applying as early as possible, to make time for visa and travel arrangements.

What we're looking for

We want someone who:

  • Shows physical aptitude, potential and motivation, can assimilate movement and respond to information.
  • Has devising skills, can develop movement material and communicate ideas.
  • Can collaborate, effectively communicate and work with others.
  • Can think independently and effectively on a supplied topic.

Fees, costs & funding

Tuition fees

Annual tuition fee Student
£9,250 per year Full-time UK
£17,460 per year Full-time EU/international
Annual tuition fee Student
£9,250 per year Full-time UK
£17,460 per year Full-time EU/international

Tuition fees are set annually and are subject to review each year. The University may therefore raise tuition fees in the second or subsequent years of a course, in line with inflation and/or the maximum permitted by law or Government policy. Students will be notified of any changes as soon as possible. 

The figures above don't include accommodation and living costs

Typical course costs

  • Public Programme season tickets (student rate) costs found: amata.org.uk/livepass
  • Students must come prepared with suitable clothing appropriate for all practical classes.  Approx £70-£100/year

If you need to bring equipment or materials with you, these will be outlined in your Welcome Letter.

Ask a student

What better way to find out about life at Falmouth University than by asking our current students?

From course details and academic support, to the social scene and settling in, our students are ready and available to answer any questions you might have. Simply set up your account, send them a question and they'll get back to you within 24 hours.

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Open Days and events

From visiting campus to online application advice, get all the information you need about joining our creative community.

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