Around 30,000 people in the UK are employed in the dance industry, as dancers and choreographers and in related roles such as in education, so there are plenty of opportunities for those with the talent, resilience, determination and, crucially, commercial outlook, to make a career out of their passion.
This course will help you succeed in your dance career by providing an enhanced technical skillset in styles including street, hip-hop, Latin American, ballet, jazz and tap alongside studies in marketing and self-promotion.
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.
You’ll get plenty of opportunities to perform in professional venues, and the course will also prepare you for postgraduate study by offering the chance to undertake a substantial piece of research on a dance topic of interest.
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.
Students who pass this course are awarded a BA (Hons) Top-up Degree from Bath Spa University. The agreement between Bath Spa University and UCW is reviewed on an ongoing basis to ensure academic standards are maintained.
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 or 40 credits each. Successful completion of all the modules is worth 120 credits and will lead to the award of an Honours Top-up Degree at Level 6.
- Contemporary ensemble performance (40 credits)
- Independent research project (20 credits)
- Professional and commercial dance techniques (40 credits)
- Solo dance performance (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. 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 18 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.
- Students who pass this course are eligible to apply for postgraduate study, such as the Master’s Degree in Dance at Bath Spa University.
- Graduates can also seek freelance and contracted dance and choreography roles and, subject to further study, aspire to work in mainstream or specialist dance education.
A related Foundation Degree with an average grade profile of 50% or above, or a Higher National Diploma at Merit, or equivalent. Applicants are also required to attend an audition.
