Professional Dance
Explore and expand your dance practice in a creative environment
The BA Professional Dance course at Chester offers a rich array of practical projects, together with performance opportunities to nurture industrysavvy dancers with excellent partnership skills and technological confidence. Synergistic student- centred learning within a creative community is the heart of what we do.
Performance Practice
At Chester we believe that you will learn best in your art form through practice, which is why numerous performance opportunities are built into the course to prepare dancers for competence in all aspects of collaborative creation and realisation.
Practical work is at the heart of learning across all three years. In year one students learn the tech essentials of how to produce their own work in a professional theatre space, taking responsibility for creation, lighting, and sound. Students study the landscape of UK dance and begin to build links with key organisations. We explore the essential role of dance partnerships for touring, community arts, health and fitness, education, and cultural development. Students also create new performance under artistic direction and practice writing about performance. Coursework introduces video-making, and students begin to build their performance portfolio.
“I felt that I had a great deal of creative autonomy during my time at University of Chester. The faculty really encouraged me to experiment with various facets of my imagination with the given facilities at Kingsway. The staff embraced my curiosity, as a result, I was able to venture into new areas of my creativity. I found confidence in myself and my works. That coupled with the student experience was like cherry on the icing! ”
Student View: Joe Mathew
In year two our dancers begin to specialise. They broaden their experience through a choice of modules including choreographic skills, teaching, interactive technology, site-based performance, and live art practices. They develop confidence as dance-makers by directing works for multiple dancers, and in our intensive sixweek experiential module they form an original company, creating performances and a workshop series for a tour to different venues.
In year three dancers consolidate their creative and performance skills for stage and screen. Working under artistic direction, dancers develop an evening of new choreography that showcases the creativity of our graduating class. An optional module on teaching and pedagogy prepares students for work in education. Research projects give dancers the possibility to further explore their own unique area of interest, and students can develop a digital portfolio including a professional show reel to apply for industry opportunities.
Technique
Technical training at Chester emphasises the importance of working with the body as an intelligent instrument and creative resource. Studio practices focus on contemporary dance technique, and lecturers bring their unique backgrounds informed by traditions including release-based dance, somatic or body-mind practices, Flying Low, Axis Syllabus, Simonson Technique, partnering, martial arts, jazz dance, release-based, classical ballet, and modern dance vocabularies. Anatomical studies, fitness, yoga, and body conditioning support technical training, empowering students to build resilience through sustainable practices. Improvisation is utilised as a tool to further explore the dancer’s technical and creative potential, all the while nurturing students toward becoming informed and responsible citizens of their bodies.
“The dance course is such an amazing course to be a part of, as you get given so many great opportunities, such as working with guest choreographers and going to excellent shows. My favourite part so far has got to be working with technology, as we are taught to rig lights to the ceiling, and also edit our own videos using sound and music.”
Student View: Malika Banham
Careers
Our BA Professional Dance degree gives you the tools to build a career as a dancer, choreographer, teacher, producer, wellbeing expert, curator, community arts practitioner and an advocate of dance, movement, and the arts.
Our Graduates
Graduates of Chester the BA Dance programme are influential dance artists and educators working regionally and further afield as performers, creative directors, teachers, community artists, lecturers, wellbeing coaches, dance therapists, and researchers. Our graduates have gone on to form their own companies (Lyra Dance, Exim Dance Company, Kinematic Dance), start their own dance schools (Studio 13 Chester), direct and advocate with regional dance agencies (e.g. Cheshire Dance), become independent artists, and work with such names as Lea Anderson, MAP Dance, Company Carpi, Panta Rei Dance Theatre, David Zambrano, Liz Aggiss, Liverpool Improvisation Collective, Fluxus Collective, and Transitions Dance Company. Many pursue postgraduate degrees such as our MA Dance course, doctoral research, and teaching in private dance studios, primary or secondary school, and further or higher education.
Extra-Curricular Dance
In addition to modules, there are many opportunities to get involved in performance in Chester. Many dance students are active in our university’s award-winning Dance Society, which runs classes and rehearsals for regional and national competitions. Creative Campus Kingsway regularly hosts visiting artists for performances and workshops in diverse movement forms from capoeira to clowning, aikido to Afrofunk, as well as annual community dance celebrations such as Now Dance with Cheshire Dance, and conferences such as Enquiring Bodies and the UK Contact Improvisation Teachers Exchange. As a member of the North-West Dance Consortia, the University of Chester staff help organise gatherings of dance students in our region, including platforms for sharing work with partner universities. Many undergraduate students also have the opportunity to work with MA Dance students at Chester, performing in choreographic work, and contributing to research projects.
“Departmental staff know the names of every single one of their students, meaning you don’t feel like a number which can be the case in some large institutions, instead it feels more like a family. I personally have gained so much experience and knowledge and had many opportunities opened up to me because of the education and support provided by the Performing Arts staff.”
Student View: Sophie Rushworth
Timetable
Your time as a BA Professional Dance student will be spent at The Creative Campus, Kingsway. Students’ timetable varies throughout the year. There is more contact time in year one, leading toward increasingly self-directed and groupcollaborative learning in years two and three, preparing you for independence and leadership after university
Learning Community
At the University of Chester, community is our strength. We recognise that through learning and researching in partnership we can support and challenge one another to achieve great things. Each person is valued as an individual and essential part of this learning community, and we look
For more information contact:
Programme Leader, Nicole Wellings
e: n.wellings@chester.ac.uk
t: 01244 515790
Department of Music, Media and Performance
www.chester.ac.uk
For admissions enquiries: Undergraduate Admissions
University of Chester
Parkgate Road
Chester, CH1 4BJ
t: 01244 511000
e: enquiries@chester.ac.uk
For further information, please contact:
Department of Music, Media and Performance
Creative Campus, Kingsway
Kingsway
Chester, CH2 2LB
t: 01244 515855
e: mmp@chester.ac.uk
Like many universities across the UK, we are carefully planning for the next year to ensure the health and safety of our students and to ensure that however the situation may develop or change, the academic year will be completed for all students. This may mean we use some alternative modes of delivery to those described in this leaflet, but we’ll still be delivering a high quality learning experience. Further details will follow on our website once plans have been confirmed.
