Course summary

The distinctiveness of this programme lies in the offer of a work placement with a professional dance company of between five and nine months. As Postgraduate Apprentices, students work alongside professional dancers at their chosen host company, experiencing the creation, rehearsal, production and touring of a professional performance programme or project, including any related education and community outreach work. Whilst on their placement, students are supported by a tutor at NSCD. The placement experience is supplemented by a wide range of technical and creative work delivered at NSCD, involving performance platforms, classes with VERVE and research-based activities. Crucially, apprentices develop an understanding of the wider skills required of a professional dance artist, through small-scale projects, introductions to local networks and awareness of a variety of activities such as workshop teaching and project management. The course operates on a modular basis. Most modules count for either 15 or 30 academic level 7 credits, with the final major research project being worth 60 credits. Each credit taken equates to a total study time of around 10-20 hours. Total study time includes scheduled teaching, independent study, directed study and assessment activity. Students on this programme take modules worth 60 credits per term. All students take a total of 180 credits for the MA as a whole.