Train Where Dance Lives and Works
News Story
Immerse yourself in the heart of London’s vibrant dance ecology, performing, collaborating, and building your career alongside professional artists from your very first week.
When you join London Contemporary Dance School, you don’t just step into a studio, you step into a living, working dance ecology. Based at The Place in central London, you’ll be surrounded by artists, performances, touring productions, research and creative development happening under the same roof, every day. From your first weeks, you’re not only training to enter the industry, you’re already part of it.
Throughout your three years on the BA (Hons) Contemporary Dance Performance course, you’ll take part in a wide range of performance projects designed to help you grow as both a performer and creative collaborator. You’ll work with visiting artists, perform in professional contexts and develop not only technical excellence, but also confidence, adaptability and a strong sense of your own artistic voice.
Recent students have performed in major venues and high-profile public settings across London and beyond. This summer, our final-year students will perform at the Southbank Centre, working with an internationally recognised choreographer for an audience of thousands. Students have also performed in striking non-traditional locations including the National Gallery, and outdoors as part of Triumph of Art, a nationwide celebration that culminated in London’s iconic Trafalgar Square.
Artists in The Place’s theatre programme often collaborate directly with students through workshops, research processes and new creations. In Super Normal Extra Natural, created with Work Place Artist Frauke Requardt, students performed alongside professional artists and local participants in a large-scale site-responsive work at the iconic Whitgift Centre in Croydon in 2023, with a second iteration at the O2 Centre on Finchley Road in 2024, transforming a familiar public space into a vibrant performance environment.
As a first year student, being able to have opportunities that I wouldn’t necessarily have at other places, collaborating with different artists, working in public settings and gaining professional experience before we graduate, is incredibly valuable.
BA participant, Super Normal Extra Natural
As you progress, these industry-facing experiences continue to expand. Our postgraduate students on the MA Dance: Performance recently worked with Benjamin Jonsson, a choreographer well known within the commercial and fashion world, on a dance film featured on the digital fashion art and culture content platform NOWNESS. Projects like this offer direct insight into professional production processes while helping you build relationships that can support your career beyond graduation.
Alongside performing, you’ll also develop your own creative work. In Percolator, you’ll collaborate intensively with visiting artists to create new pieces in a fast-paced rehearsal process. During the Collaborations unit, you’ll work with students from other creative disciplines such as composing and design, developing interdisciplinary skills increasingly vital in contemporary performance.
By the time you graduate, you won’t just have refined your technique, you’ll have gained professional experience, built networks and developed a clearer sense of your place within the dance industry. At London Contemporary Dance School, your training is embedded in the realities of contemporary dance today.
If you’re ready to immerse yourself in the world of contemporary dance and start shaping your future as an artist, London Contemporary Dance School is where that journey begins.
