Dance for Commercial Performance, BA (Hons)

Overview

This course will provide you with the practical, academic and promotional skills needed to be a versatile dancer or choreographer across all genres, and also prepare you for postgraduate study and careers in related areas such as movement and dance education.

The course has a practical focus, with regular studio skills sessions and public performances across the South West and beyond forming an important part of the programme.

Course length:

Full-time: 3 years (5 days a week)

Start date:

13th September 2021

Location:

UCW Academy of Performing Arts at Knightstone Campus

Course codes:

Institution: B20
Course: UCW1
Campus: C

Awarding institution:

Bath Spa University

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Course detail

Performance is at the heart of the course, so you will work with an ensemble and as a soloist to devise and realise original and devised routines, and perform to the dance-lovers in the public.

In recent years, dance students at UCW have performed in professional venues including Loco Klub in Bristol and in our spectacular end of year show in Weston’s Playhouse Theatre.

The course is taught by still-practising dance and performing arts professionals, and you will also learn from expert guest lecturers who will help you develop your online portfolio and encourage you to make a professional network within the dance industry.

You will also gain an understanding of performance physicality and explore the key historical and stylistic developments, practitioners and productions in dance and undertake projects in areas of academic and professional interest.

The programme’s international emphasis extends beyond the syllabus, with students on this course having recently had the opportunity to visit Los Angeles at an additional expense.

The UCW Academy of Performing Arts has also developed a partnership with the Studio School in LA, with students from both institutions collaborating to produce a music video.

The course is taught in the recently-renovated rehearsal spaces and dance studios in the UCW Academy of Performing Arts at our Knightstone Campus. You’ll also attend lectures in the brand new learning and teaching facilities in the University Centre of our Winter Gardens building, which is also in the centre of Weston.

Please contact the course leader Corrin Martin or UCW’s HEART team if you have any questions. It would also be great to meet you and show you around at our next Open Day.

All of the modules on this course are compulsory and worth either 20, 40 or 60 credits each. Successful completion of all three years is worth 360 credits and will lead to the award of a degree at Level 6.

Year 1:

Ballet 1 (20 credits)
Commercial Dance Technique (20 credits)
Dance Skills (20 credits)
Jazz Dance 1 (20 credits)
Performance and Creative Practice (20 credits)
The Dancer's Body (20 credits)

Year 2:

Ballet 2 (20 credits)
Commercial Dance Technique (20 credits)
Dance Skills 2 (20 credits)
Jazz Dance 2 (20 credits)
Performance and Creative Practice 2 (20 credits)
Personal Reflective Practice 2 (20 credits)

Year 3:

Dance Independent Study (20 credits)
Professional Dance Projects (60 credits)
The Professional Dancer (40 credits)

This course is taught and assessed via a combination of lectures, seminars, workshops, skills classes, in-class performances of devised work, presentations, individual and group work, written assignments and public performances. UCW’s Higher Education Library Plus (HE.LP) team also deliver a series of sessions on degree-level research and academic writing to all first-year students. When not in scheduled lectures and seminars, students are expected to continue learning through independent self-study. This involves reading relevant literature, working on individual and group projects, and undertaking research in preparation for coursework.

This course has an average of 26 hours of scheduled teaching per week.

Assessment is via a combination of practical exams and coursework. The assessment breakdown is 65% practical exams and 35% coursework. There are no written exams on this course.

Assessment

Written Exams

0%

Coursework

35%

Practical Exams

65%

Quick Stats

Prepare for a career as a dancer or choreographer for the stage and screen and enhance your technique and performance skills in dance styles such as ballet, tap, jazz, hip-hop, dancehall, waacking, house dance and more.

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Quick Stats

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Meet the Team

Abigail Green

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Lecturer in Voice, Performing Arts and Musical Theatre

Abigail is an experienced vocal teacher and performer with an Honours Degree in Education (Music) from the University of Plymouth. She is a Certified Master Teacher for Estill Voice International, and one of only a few voice coaches in the country to be awarded this prestigious qualification. She has also worked extensively as a performer, and is a member of the British Voice Association and member of the Incorporated Society of Musicians. Abigail’s academic interests lie in vocal physiology and vocal acoustics, in particular the effects of jaw and mouth morphology for professional voice users.
Meet the Team

Sylvia Lane

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Section Lead for Performance

Sylvia has been performing in international theatre, film and TV for more than 20 years, with experience of working in musical theatre productions, dance companies, plays, cruise ships, live and recorded TV programmes, film and studio recordings and revue shows. Her areas of academic interest range from jazz and ballet to physical theatre and digital performance, and she is currently involved in telematics performance research. Sylvia has a Master’s in Professional Practice in Higher Education, a Postgraduate Certificate in Education and a Graduate Diploma in Musical Theatre and Theatre Dance.
Meet the Team

Kyle Davies

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Lecturer in Performing Arts and Musical Theatre

Kyle has worked extensively as a freelance director in the US and UK and is the associate director of the State of Play Theatre. Recent directing credits include A Christmas Carol starring Paul Nicholas at the Winter Gardens in Blackpool; Puss in Boots and Cinderella at the York Theatre Royal’s De Grey Ballroom; The Fantasist’s Waltz, The Revenge of Mr Trout! and The Unholy Trinity for the State of Play Theatre; and RashDash’s The Ugly Sisters at the Soho Theatre and West Yorkshire Playhouse. In New York, his work as a director includes the development and world premiere reading of Howard Emanuel’s Last Supper, Survived By… at Theatre for a New City, and the creation of the cabaret review There Goes the Ballgame: The Music of Kander and Ebb for two of New York’s preeminent cabaret venues, The Duplex and Don’t Tell Mama’s. Kyle worked as an assistant director on the Emmy Award-winning production of Sondheim’s Passion, and his direction on The Ugly Sisters was nominated for a Total Theatre Award in 2012. Along with receiving a B.F.A in Musical Theatre from Syracuse University, he attended L’Ecole Internationale de Theatre Jacques Lecoq in Paris and is also a graduate of their Laboratoire d’Étude du Mouvement.
Meet the Team

Corrin Reilly

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Programme Coordinator for Dance

Corrin completed her professional dance training at Middlesex University in 2011 where she received a BA (Hons) in Dance Studies. Here, she trained extensively for three years in contemporary dance techniques such as Humphrey, Graham, Cunningham and Release, alongside Ballet, commercial dance and choreography. She then went on to gain performance experience through working abroad as a professional dancer in Cabaret and Showgirl acts and other musical theatre productions. Upon her return to the UK, Corrin worked alongside South West Dance Theatre, performing and choreographing for shows around the South West and also co-directed a youth dance company called SWDT Signets, which was a fusion between contemporary, ballet, commercial dance and physical theatre. In 2013 Corrin followed her passion for teaching and completed a PGCE in Secondary Dance Education at Exeter University to gain Qualified Teacher Status (QTS). Since then, she has taught at secondary and A Level, in addition to various dance fitness classes.