Dance for Commercial Performance, BA (Hons)

AT A GLANCE

Prepare for a career as a dancer/choreographer for the stage and screen by enhancing your theoretical understanding and performance skills in dance styles including ballet, tap, jazz, hip-hop, dancehall, Waacking, house dance and more.

This course will help you realise your ambition of working as a dancer or choreographer or in related roles such as in dance education by providing advanced practical skills and techniques alongside the commercial awareness and academic knowledge you’ll need for employment or postgraduate study.

You’ll get numerous opportunities to perform in professional venues and in digital productions to demonstrate your skills across a range of dance styles and genres, and also learn how to plan, produce and promote your talents, products and events.

This 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.

The course is taught by still-practising dance and performing arts professionals, and you’ll 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.

As well as gaining advanced technical skills, you’ll also explore the key histories, practitioners and movements in commercial dance and choreography, and undertake study in areas of academic 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.

Performance is at the heart of studying dance at UCW, so you’ll 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, in our spectacular end of year show in Weston’s Playhouse Theatre.

Please click on the next tab to find out more about what you’ll learn on this programme and how it is taught and assessed. The information below deals with our partnership with Bath Spa University and what is included in the cost of tuition.

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.

Our partnership with Bath Spa University

Course costs

Full-time tuition fees: £8,250 per year.

This covers all of the teaching and assessment elements that are required for you to complete the course.

However, students on this course will need appropriate clothing
and footwear for dancing and other types of performing. Additional expenses also apply to some props and costumes.

The tuition fees also include:

The use of all UCW facilities and equipment.
Attendance at guest lectures at UCW.
Annual £10 printing and photocopying allowance for full-time students.
The use of UCW computers at any of our campuses and access to Microsoft Office 365 while you are enrolled with UCW.
The loans of books from our libraries.
Access to all of the UCW student support and careers services.

It does not include:

Optional theatre trips at an approximate cost of £50 each.
Optional residential visits at an approximate cost of £75 (UK) and £100 (overseas) per night.
Extra printing and photocopying above the £10 limit.
The cost of books you may wish to purchase.
Transport between our campuses, and to/from your partner university and any work placements. We encourage students to take advantage of termly bus passes to reduce transport costs.
Accommodation and other living costs.

UCW publishes its Tuition Fees Policy on the Wider Information Set page of this website.

You may also be eligible for additional financial support, depending on your circumstances.

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)

Teaching and assessment

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.

At UCW we understand that some students benefit from more contact time with lecturers than is the norm at a traditional university, so we do all we can to make sure academic staff are available for their students when they are needed.

Assessment is via a combination of practical exams and coursework. The assessment breakdown is 75% practical exams and 25% coursework. There are no written exams on this course.

Course length
Full-time: 3 years (5 days a week)
Start date
7th September 2020
Course codes
Institution: B20
Course: UCW1
Campus: C
Tuition fees
Full-time: £8,250 per year

Apply now

Programme Specification

Course handbook

Bath Spa University Terms and Conditions

UCW Terms and Conditions

“The integrity and passion from the lecturers is backed by a level of professionalism that ensures each artist graduating from UCW is fully equipped with the tools they need to thrive and a realistic expectation of what awaits them in the entertainment industry.”

Matthew Shaffer – dancer, choreographer, director, author and actor in shows including Crazy Ex-Girlfriend, Broad City and Wet Hot American Summer: First Day of Camp.