Dance

Build the skills you need to become a creative and articulate dance professional.

• Experience rigorous practical training in choreography, technique and performance.

• Gain industry experience and contacts with weekly classes from our extensive network of professional dance artists and companies.

• 100% student satisfaction (NSS 2021) and top 20 for Teaching Quality (Sunday Times Good University Guide 2021).

Immerse yourself in an exciting and challenging artistic environment. By studying Dance at Bath Spa University, you’ll be part of an exciting training programme with a strong practical focus.

Creativity and performance lie at the heart of the course. These, as well as the breadth of opportunities we offer, make our Dance course distinctive. The course suits creative individuals who are looking for a degree that is both physically and intellectually stimulating.

Professional Placement Year

A Professional Placement Year (PPY), traditionally known as a sandwich year, is where you undertake a period of work with an external organisation for between 9-13 months. The placement occurs between your second and final years of undergraduate study. You can engage in multiple placements to make up the total time and are required to source the placement(s) yourself, with support from the Careers team.

Course Modules

Your first year will be a fast-paced, challenging experience that builds your skills in the key areas of performance, creativity and critical thinking. You’ll work on regular performance projects, creating solo, small group and large ensemble work. We introduce you to new ways to think and move that will help you to broaden your skills as a dance artist.

Regular sessions with visiting companies and artists will help you expand your understanding of the dance industry and inspire you to think about your own career aspirations.

In year two, you’ll stretch your creative and performance skills in exciting new directions. A wide range of practical sessions will deepen your understanding of how performance work can be created for different contexts; we encourage you to see yourself – and the work you make – within a broader perspective.

The visiting guest artist programme continues to provide you with inspirational workshops and residencies that help to build your knowledge of the field and inform your artistic practice.

In the final year, you’ll focus on developing a specialist area. Modules allow you to follow a specific pathway that supports your interests, such as performance, choreography, teaching or dance movement therapy. You’ll embark on a large scale performance project, as well as completing a work placement with a professional dance organisation and undertaking an independent project that you design and manage to completion.

Regular individual tutoring, with specialist dance careers staff, will help you build a plan for after you graduate. We pledge to continue to support you as part of our graduate alumni scheme, no matter how long ago you graduated.