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Dance Studies

Dance Studies will develop your appreciation and understanding of dance as an art form and social practice from multiple perspectives: as a dancer, audience member and theorist...

Dance Studies at UNSW

Dance Studies offers a combination of theory and physical practice to encourage you to explore, challenge and reimagine traditions in thinking, writing and making dance through both conceptual and applied learning.

Dance Teacher Education at UNSW

Students interested in a career as a dance teacher also have the opportunity to combine Dance Studies (as a major in the Bachelor of Arts) with our Bachelor of Education to gain a professional teaching qualification for Australian Secondary Schools. This concurrent degree program takes four years to complete and students must meet the entry requirements for both degrees.

Dance Studies at UNSW has strong ties with local industry through teaching staff and associated professional residencies, and is aligned with the existing ecology of dance practice in NSW with a focus on self-authored movement research, offering clear pathways to higher research in Creative Practice and Dance Theory.

The following are courses we recommend you take to meet the criteria set by the NSW Institute of Teachers(criteria noted in brackets):

Choreography and Theory (History and analysis of dance)
Somatic Practices (Applied anatomy and kinesiology)
Dance Technique (Performance with a technique base in modern/contemporary dance and ballet)
Interdisciplinary Composition (Composition/choreography)

Dance Studies – Program Options

Dance Studies is offered as a major or minor within the Bachelor of Arts (BA) and combined degree programs. The UNSW BA provides the opportunity to combine two disciplines from a choice of over thirty five majors and minors. Dance Studies is also offered as:

A teaching specialisation in the Bachelor of Arts/Bachelor of Education
A fourth (Honours) year for high achieving students
Postgraduate research programs
A free or general education elective

Courses

The various relationships between writing and dancing are introduced in the introductory course Thinking, Writing and Making Dance (ARTS 1005). The pathway to the studio-based subjects in upper years of the Dance Studies Major (including Dance Technique and Somatic Practices) is via a performance based assessment in this course.

Students can pursue courses grounded in physical knowledge including movement practices, dance theory, composition, creative practice and performance, involving dance history, philosophy, anatomy, science and cultural studies. Upper level courses explore the relationship between dance and other art forms such as film, new media, performance, writing, live art and physical theatre. Sample courses include:

Reading Performance
Choreography and Theory
Composition Across Music and Dance
Interdisciplinary Composition
Choreography and the Moving Image

Studio Seminars

In Thinking, Writing and Making Dance, students will be asked to self-select a level for the tutorials (studio seminars) based on their experience as a dancer. Beginner, intermediate, and advanced studio seminars will be offered. A student with little or no dance experience should select a Beginner group. A student with substantial skills in social dance forms (traditional - kathak, indigenous etc, or salsa, tango, hip hop etc) or western techniques (ballet, contemporary, jazz, tap) should select Intermediate. Students with a Dance HSC result in band 5 or 6, Intermediate level in a major dance syllabus (RAD, Cechetti, BBO etc) or significant professional dance experience should select Advanced.

Students in the intermediate and advanced studio-seminars who obtain a Credit in the performance assessment for Thinking, Writing and Making Dance can proceed to the studio-based subject Introduction to Movement Practices*(ARTS1006) and those in the upper years of the Dance Studies Major

*Students undertaking ARTS1006 Introduction to Movement Practices are required to undertake a physical assessment before the commencement of this course for their own safety.