Dance

On our BA Dance course, you'll be encouraged to make work for both the live and digital arena and you'll be supported by the expertise of a specialist team of tutors and industry contacts. We’ll encourage you to develop a critical and analytical mindset that will support your creative enquiry.

Your physical training is an important feature of your programme and requires you to take part in daily technique classes and regular performances. The majority of your training focuses on contemporary techniques (Cunningham, release, somatic practices, contact improvisation) but the course also provides opportunities for you to explore other styles and genres. There's a strong focus on developing a holistic understanding of safe and healthy dance practices in order to ensure that you can work in a sustainable and ethical manner.

Engaging in live public performances is an important feature of the course. Each year you’ll be part of exciting performance modules with visiting professional companies. As part of this, you’ll take part in intensive projects that build your skills as a maker and performer.

Modules in dance making and choreographic enquiry offer you the chance to create work for live performance both as an independent and collaborative artist. You'll also have a chance to explore Screendance, emerging digital technologies, and how dance intersects with other art forms.

Year one
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. You'll develop a detailed understanding of safe and healthy dance practices which will help to support your health and wellbeing during your studies and beyond.

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.

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.

Year three
You'll focus on developing a specialist area of study and preparing for the employment market. You'll work regularly with industry practitioners to develop a broad understanding of dance employment routes. You can work on a professional performance project, complete a work placement and undertake a substantial independent study.

Regular individual tutoring is provided by specialist dance staff to help you build a plan for after you graduate. The University's Careers and Employability team will also continue to support you for up to three years after graduation.

We’ll assess your work in a variety of ways such as practical performances, presentations, portfolios and essays. Practical projects may be assessed on your creative process, the final product or both. There are no written tests or examinations.

The course has a strong practical focus with workshops, technique classes and creative sessions. These are led by qualified staff and visiting choreographers and artists.

Digital technology plays a significant role in the course; we apply it to creative practice as well as using it to teach. Screendance, and the integration of digital media in live performance work, are distinctive features of the course.

To find out more about how we teach and how you'll learn, please read our Learning and Teaching Delivery Statement.

As part of your degree, you could study abroad on a placement at one of Bath Spa’s partner universities.

Our students have completed work placements with many professional dance organisations including Ballet Cymru, Hofesh Shechter, Pavilion Dance, ITV, The Egg Theatre, Impermanence Dance Theatre, Circomedia, Be U Dance Company, and Jean Abreu Dance.

One of the key features of Dance at Bath Spa is the exciting variety of ways that professional artists and companies are integrated into the delivery of our courses. We have an extensive network of contacts who work alongside the Bath Spa teaching team on both weekly classes and intensive projects.

Previous guests who have worked with our students include: Theo Clinkard, Impermanence Dance Theatre, Lila Dance, Lea Anderson, Wendy Houston, Alexander Whitely, Protein Dance, Maresa von Stockert, Jean Abreu, Laila Diallo, James Wilton Dance, FAR FROM THE NORM, Kennedy Junior Muntanga, Richard Chappell Dance, Dan Canham, Kapow, TRIBE, Vincent Dance Theatre, Kip Johnson and Sam Amos.

Our dance graduates work in a range of professions including:

• Performance
• Choreography
• Community dance work
• Teaching in a variety of educational settings
• Dance movement therapy
• Arts management / administration

Whether they’ve continued their education or progressed to the professional performing arts, our dance graduates have gone on to do amazing things. Bath Spa dancers emerge with a sophisticated understanding of the interplay between technical, creative and critical modes of enquiry in dance. Read more about what our entrepreneurial graduates go on to do after studying with us.

As a Bath Spa dancer, you'll be part of a busy events calendar that will allow you to both participate in and watch professional dance performances. We’ll encourage you to participate in dance festivals and exhibitions, and you’ll have the opportunity to apply for choreographic platforms and screen dance festivals. 

If you’re a full-time undergraduate student starting your first year at Bath Spa University, you can apply for the Certificate in Global Citizenship, which you’ll study alongside your degree.

You’ll gain global awareness and add an international dimension to your student experience, and funding is available. On successful completion of the programme, you’ll be awarded a Certificate in Global Citizenship. This is in addition to your degree; it doesn’t change your degree title or results.

This optional placement year provides you with the opportunity to identify, apply for and secure professional experience, normally comprising one to three placements over a minimum of nine months. Successful completion of this module will demonstrate your ability to secure and sustain graduate-level employment.

By completing the module, you'll be entitled to the addition of 'with Professional Placement Year' to your degree title.

Before your Professional Placement Year, you'll work to secure your placement, constructing a development plan with your module leader and your placement coordinator from our Careers and Employability team.

On your return to University for your final year, you'll submit your Placement Portfolio, detailing your development on your placement.

The course is taught at our Newton Park campus.

You’ll work in our dance studios, which are fully equipped for choreography, performance and work with digital media. We regularly host professional performances and workshops from leading dance artists in the University Theatre. 

Bath Spa University offers many other excellent facilities including:

• Amphitheatre
• Mac editing suite
• TV studios
• Green screen facilities
• Virtual Learning Environment
• Libraries

You can hire out equipment through the SISO, Bath Spa University’s free equipment loan service. We provide a huge variety of equipment including laptops, ipads, projectors and cameras. You'll also get access to the media creation app Adobe Spark for mobile and web to help you with your digital projects.

Our greatest resource is, perhaps, the professionalism and experience of the tutors who teach on the course and our professional associates and partners.