MA Creative Dance Education

Spread over three distinctive units, the MA Creative Dance Education course supports progressive development from mapping the field of creative dance education, to applied teaching and placement learning, to a substantial practice-informed research project. You begin by exploring key approaches to creative dance education and developing research methods for education. You will work with observation and participation across LCDS and The Place, alongside studio based enquiry, somatic approaches and dance science, to develop your pedagogical direction and teacher identity.

You then deepen your practice through applied studio work and a mentored 6 week teaching placement, supported by weekly seminars. This placement enables you to integrate research-led enquiry with real-world experience and to develop confident, responsive and ethically grounded teaching practices.

In the final unit you design and undertake a substantial practice -informed research enquiry. Your project might take a written, practice-based and/or multimodal form, and is intended to contribute original insight to the evolving field of dance education.

• Evaluate and apply theoretical perspectives on dance education, creativity and pedagogy to support your teaching practice.

• Put your learning into practice through placements negotiated with you and supported by The Place and partner organisations, aligned to your professional context and goals.

• Analyse and interrogate an aspect of dance education through a practice research enquiry.

• Develop evidenced-informed approaches through continuous cycles of self-evaluation, adaptation and experimentation to sustain and enhance your teaching practice.

• Nuture the wellbeing of learners using holistic strategies that support whole-person education and sustainable practice.

• Benefit from a range of pedagogical experiences to elevate your future as a dance educator. The course supports you to plan your continuous professional development, including identifying requirements for professional accreditation.

• There’s currently a lack of industry-ready dance teachers and a growing and insatiable demand of people (children, young people and adults/older people) who want to learn to dance – in the UK and globally. Prepare now for a future need for dance educators.

• Find your place whatever stage of the dance education journey you’re at. You could be a new dance graduate, or a mid-career dance artist ready to pivot to teaching.

• Disrupt conventional notions about how dance should be taught, by understanding and interrogating a range of dance teaching methods.

• Learn about teaching dance from different contexts, countries, cultures and teaching styles.

• Understand how to take an agile and creative approach to dance education.

• Enjoy the flexibility to focus on the aspects of dance teaching that appeal to you, while being part of a strong community.

• Explore creativity as a relational, dialogic process that can generate, question and reconfigure dance education practices, while supporting wellbeing and learner agency.

• Understand how dance educators can stimulate creativity, as well as creative ways of teaching.

• Embrace a programme that follows person-centred dance pedagogy, which develops the dancer as a whole person.

• Strengthen your ability to design and deliver effective dance content in positive and enabling environments, integrating embodied knowledge, critical reflection and ethical responsibility.

• London Contemporary Dance School is a world-leading dance school with +30 years of specialist dance education knowledge. You’ll be taught by renowned educators, who are considered to be some of the best in the industry.

• We teach from our building every day of the week – which includes children of all ages and over 60s in community classes, as well as CAT scheme participants and higher education students. Benefit from direct access to our teaching expertise and one-of-a-kind opportunities to get involved.

• There is a strengthening research arm of The Place – you could become part of it through your personal research inquiry, helping to drive dance education knowledge forward.

• Unit 1: Mapping the Field (60 credits) – Applied Practice Presentation (20 minutes) + Written Pedagogical and Research Framing Statement (1,000 words)

• Unit 2: Developing Skills (60 credits) – Observed Class and Feedback (60%) + Reflexive Log (2,500 words)

• Unit 3: Creative Dance Education Research Project (60 credits) – Research Proposal and Ethical Approval Documentation (20%) + Project Output / Dissertation (80%) (9,000-word equivalence)

Standard minimum entry requirements:

• BA (Hons) degree or equivalent academic qualifications

or

• APEL - Accreditation of Prior (Experiential) Learning

Applicants who do not meet these course entry requirements will still be considered. The course team will consider each application that demonstrates additional strengths and alternative evidence. This might, for example, be demonstrated by:

• Extensive teaching experience in in dance, drama, performance or similar field
• The quality of the personal statement
• A strong academic or other professional reference
• A combination of these factors

English language requirements:

IELTS level 6.5 or above, with at least 5.5 in reading, writing, listening and speaking

First, you are required to complete our online application form where you input details about yourself, your educational and employment history, and a personal statement about why you want to join our MA Creative Dance Education course.

You will then be contacted by our admissions team who will let you know if you have been invited to an interview with us. This will be hosted online by a panel of LCDS faculty.

After the interview, please allow up to 2 weeks to hear an outcome from our admissions team.

Please note: this course is subject to minimum enrolment numbers being reached. If the required number of students is not attained by 1 May 2026, the course will not proceed in September 2026. Applicants will be informed in writing and offered the opportunity to transfer to an alternative start date or course, or to have any deposits refunded.

Fees for 2026/27 and information on funding support can be found here

Postgraduate Masters Loans for Home Students
If you’re starting a master’s degree and from England, you could get a Postgraduate Master’s Loan to help with course fees and living costs. Visit the government website, where it also outlines loans available to you if you are from England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland.