Course summary
MA Dance: Participation, Communities, Activism is for students who want to develop a socially engaged dance practice which addresses the urgencies of our times. You will join a global community of artists and researchers working at the intersection of community dance and arts activism. You may have an emerging community, participatory or activist movement practice which you want to develop, or you may be an established maker who wants to interrogate and develop your practice in the light of the shifting discourses and challenges of the moment. This unique MA, offered full-time or part-time, has an intensive residency model. You engage in two, 2-week live residencies per year based at LCDS in London. All other teaching and learning is online, allowing you to remain embedded in the communities with whom you practice, growing your work as you study. You are not required to relocate to London, indeed the course places the de-centred practice of the individual student in their specific context at its heart. The richness of the curriculum grows from the wide diversity of geographical, cultural and contextual situations of our students and staff. This MA enables you to:
- Develop your artistic approach to dance including its social, ethical, activist, aesthetic and pedagogical dimensions
- Be supported in your development working for the advancement of social justice across the fields of community and participatory dance and activism
- Encounter, interrogate and negotiate systemic contexts, activating dance as a methodology for change
- Locate your practice in historical and contemporary discourses around socially engaged arts practices
- Develop appropriate skills and knowledges to lead safe, creative, accessible, ethical and enquiring dance projects in a variety of settings
- Develop advocacy skills and activist values to influence the contexts in which you work
- Analyse and reflect upon the efficacy of your practice and its relationship with the communities of practice in which it is embedded
Modules
Unit 1: Mapping Co-Creative Communities This unit maps a wide range of participatory/community/activist dance practices around the world. Through exploring the work of your peers, teachers and guest artists working with multiple approaches, you will situate your own practice in a wide context. Theoretical and practical inputs are applied continuously in the setting in which you practice, enabling you to investigate new ideas and impulses practically and then reflect upon your learning with your community of learners. We interrogate the key terms of the MA: participation, communities, activism. You have an individual student placement in this unit. Indicative content includes: • Peer exchange on existing practice • Critical exploration of contemporary practice internationally • Social disruption and social organisation in activist dance practices • Approaches to co-creativity and co-authorship in participatory work and community dance • Ethical concerns in socially engaged work • The historical development of socially engaged practice in diverse contexts • Documentation, analysis and evaluation of embodied experience outside of student’s own experience (placement) • Safe Practice, risk management, safeguarding and self-care • Introduction to research approaches Unit 2: Learning in Collaborative Practice Unit 2 leads you through a process of sifting through the learning in the previous unit, supporting you to identify and investigate your areas of interest. You will develop your practice-based research in practical collective micro-processes with your peers and communities. Critical reflection will anchor the development of your unique creative practice. Your personal mentor will support you to identify your research questions and to imagine and plan your independent project. Indicative content includes: • Application of learning in practical processes with peers and communities • Movement generation and composition, collective decision-making, collective editing, • Co-authorship and co-creativity • Working in groups (including conflict management) • Safe Dance Practice and safeguarding principles and the application of these, self- and collective care • Addressing the specific needs of individuals • Building and sustaining ethical relationships with communities • Systemic dimensions in the field (institutional collaborations) • Social organisation/social disruption in activist approaches • Research practices, techniques and procedures • Project management and managing resources in projects • Building a mentoring relationship • Imagining and planning an independent project, writing a project proposal. Unit 3: Encounter in the Creative Process You will integrate your learning throughout the course to deliver an embedded practice-based, artistic research project with a community. Self-reflective analysis of your process feeds into a final presentation in a student-led symposium. Your mentor will continue to support you throughout this process. Indicative content includes: • Individually motivated and developed exploration into areas of fresh enquiry in your creative work. • Delivery of embedded practice-based, artistic research project with a community • Self-reflective analysis of your process • Presentation in student-led symposium
Assessment method
Unit 1 – Mapping Co-Creative Communities Assessment 1: Presentation - Mapping co-creative communities (60%) Assessment 2: Written placement report (40%) Unit 2 – Learning in Collaborative Practices Assessment 1: Workshop and evaluation (40%) Assessment 2: Embedded research project proposal (60%) Unit 3 – Encounter in the Creative Process Project delivery, documentation and evaluation. Presentation in student symposium. (Holistic)
How to apply
International applicants
This unique Masters, offered full-time or part-time, has an intensive residency model. You engage in two, 2-week live residencies per year based at The Place in London. All other teaching and learning is online, allowing you to remain embedded in the communities with whom you practice, growing your work as you study. You are not required to relocate to London. The richness of the curriculum grows from the wide diversity of geographical, cultural and contextual situations of our students and staff.
Entry requirements
The standard minimum entry requirements for this course are: • BA (Hons) degree or equivalent academic qualifications • Alternative qualifications and experience will also be taken into consideration • Personal statement, outlining how you intend to use the course to expand your current practice • Video submission If you don't meet the above requirements, you might still be considered with additional strengths or alternative evidence such as: • Related academic or professional experience in in dance, film, arts, media, fine arts, performance, or similar field • The quality of the personal statement and video submission • A strong academic or other professional reference • A combination of these factors
English language requirements
| Test | Grade | Additional details |
|---|---|---|
| IELTS (Academic) | 6.5 | 6.5 or above with at least 5.5 in reading, writing, listening, and speaking |
Fees and funding
Tuition fees
| England | £9700 | Whole course |
| Northern Ireland | £9700 | Whole course |
| Scotland | £9700 | Whole course |
| Wales | £9700 | Whole course |
| EU | £21500 | Whole course |
| International | £21500 | Whole course |
| Channel Islands | £21500 | Whole course |
| Republic of Ireland | £21500 | Whole course |
Tuition fee status depends on a number of criteria and varies according to where in the UK you will study. For further guidance on the criteria for home or overseas tuition fees, please refer to the UKCISA website .
Additional fee information
This course does not require a student visa. You are expected to attend two two-week residencies in London at The Place as part of this course, for which you will need to apply for a Tourist Visa if your passport issuing country does not allow visa-free travel to the UK.
Sponsorship information
We are offering two full scholarships to those living and working in the Global South.
Provider information
London Contemporary Dance School
London Contemporary Dance School at The Place
16 Flaxman Terrace
London
WC1H 9AT