MA Dance: Performance

Unit 1: Encounters (60 Credits)

This unit will focus on experiential learning through exposure to different processes of researching, creating and sharing dance performance. This will serve to establish a community of practice within the cohort, fostering a sense of belonging and developing a supportive peer group, alongside familiarising students with the demands of project work and the rigours of daily training experiences.

Students will explore methodologies for contributing to, and reflecting upon, devised performances, the learning of existing repertory and the use of improvisation skills in performance. These will be investigated through their application to modes of presentation to various audience contexts, both live and virtual. Students will be exposed to different performance mediums representative of established and emerging mediums of performance from the professional environment.

Students will critically investigate strategies for self-evaluation and peer feedback as methods for enriching intrinsic motivation and for the dissemination of their embodied research. These will be supported by practical classes for physical and mental preparation and seminars which explore discursive contexts and professional frameworks alongside seminars exploring theory and academic literature from the fields of Dance Science and Performance Psychology.

Unit 2: Contexts (60 Credits)

This unit will build on the experiential learning in the previous unit and continue to expose students to new collaborative processes for researching, devising, learning repertoire, improvising and will further interrogate how these processes modulate across contexts for performance. Students will be introduced to a range of mentors from across the professional sector and investigate how to initiate and resource self-directed research into performance experiences, resulting in a proposal for an actualisation portfolio project.

This unit will emphasise ongoing self-practice as the means by which the professional dance artist maintains and develops a base of technical proficiency and artistic availability. Students will be supported to lead sessions with the cohort sharing the development of their own personal practice as a means of exploring how to disseminate individual interests in training and skill building. Supplementary seminars will explore freelance skills of negotiating contracts and devising and managing budgets, network building and the development of multi-stranded communication and promotional skills.

Unit 3: Portfolio (60 Credits)

This unit will consolidate the learning from the previous units and enable the student to plan, realise and reflect upon a period of self-directed exploration into the career trajectories of contemporary dance performing artists. Together with support from the course team and an industry mentor the student will actualise a process through which they will investigate their own performance practice within a wider professional setting. They will initiate the communications support required for this independent exploration and resource the technical skills and training needed to support this process. The final presentation of a reflective portfolio and artistic manifesto will draw upon the previous encounters with performance alongside the consolidation and integration of the knowledge gathered through their independent process, and the student will explore modes and multimedia strategies for documenting, framing, and disseminating their experiential learning from these events.

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

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

• 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

Student Visas

If you are an overseas student, you might require a Student Visa to study with us.

STAGE ONE - Application Form

You are required to complete our online application form where you input details about yourself, your educational and employment history, and a personal statement covering why you want to join the MA Dance: Performance programme. On this form you will also select your preferred location to attend an admissions workshop.

STAGE TWO - Admissions Workshop

You will then attend our one-day admissions workshop.

There are no recalls or cuts during our admissions workshops.

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

Please note dates and locations for all admissions workshops for Sept 2025 entry:

Studio Wayne McGregor, London - 05 Jan 2025
Mumbai, India - 25 Jan 2025
Shanghai, China - 05 Feb 2025
Singapore - 08 Feb 2025
Studio Wayne McGregor, London - 15 Feb 2025
New York, US - 01 Mar 2025
Scouting Dance, Mexico - 07 Mar 2025
Los Angeles, US - 15 Mar 2025
The Place, London - 30 Mar 2025
The Place, London - 05 Apr 2025
Montreal, Canada - 12 Apr 2025
Global (Online)

You must select your preferred date and location on the course application form. We encourage you to apply early to get a spot on your desired choice, as there are limited spaces at each location.

£12,950 – UK Home Fees
£24,500 – Overseas Fee

Find out more about our financial support for your studies.

Who is the course for?
This course is geared towards dance artists who are interested in gaining a thorough perspective on the workings of the freelance contemporary dance sector, from the perspective of the performer.

This course could be for you if you are graduating from an undergraduate or conservatoire dance programme, already established as a performer and looking to gain a deeper understanding of portfolio and freelance approaches, or are returning to dance after a period away and are looking to understand the ways in which the sector has changed in recent years. The programme aims to empower you with the capacity to collaborate meaningfully, forefront your own artistic interests within the creative process and gain confidence in the administrative needs of the modern freelancer in an environment that forefronts both collective rigour and individual exploration in equal measure.

Please see the Entry Requirement sections for more details about standard minimum entry requirements. We strive to make this course accessible to all candidates with an appropriate level of prior dance or performance experience, so if you have any access needs that you would like to discuss ahead of applying to the programme, please contact the Course Leader directly (contact at the bottom of the FAQ section).

What are the outcomes of the course?
Your individual artistic development sits at the centre of this course. You will leave with a clearer artistic identity, knowing more about your own practice and having critically reflected upon it, and its relevance to current and future trends in performance and performance making.

You will leave with a sense of proficiency when working in different performance settings, and will have been supported by staff, peers and mentors to develop your artistic network, learning to identify professional opportunities within the wider contemporary dance industry. You will be equipped to work as a freelance artist, with the creativity, resilience, contacts and administrative capabilities to sustain your practice, all with the long-lasting support of the community that you will build with your cohort and the course team.

Upon graduation, you will join the illustrious alumni who have completed their dance education at London Contemporary Dance School, and benefit from the Place’s reputation as a global leader in the contemporary dance landscape.

How will I learn?
Units 1 and 2 of the programme aim to replicate the rigours and collaborative nature of project work in the international contemporary performance sector, across 9 months of intensive training and development.

Your training begins with a period of intensive performance workshops, developing a community of practice within the cohort. This is closely followed by a series of outcome-based Performance Projects, each led by an industry-active project leader. All of the project leaders who will direct you on the MA are working at the forefront of their respective performance areas: To see examples of the calibre of the project leaders you will work with on the course, please visit the Guest Artists section further down the page.

Units 1 and 2 are full-time and in person. You should expect to be in the studio between 10am and 5:30pm, Monday to Friday, during the majority of the weeks during both units.

In Unit 3, you will undertake a 3-month period of self-directed activity during which you will be paired with an experienced industry mentor. Working with the course team and your mentor, you will look to identify professional opportunities that allow you to further your artistic interests, deepen your craft as a performer and build relevant and long-lasting professional connections. The independent unit is designed to give you a real and in-depth experience of freelance life, while working with the support and expertise of your mentor and the LCDS staff, and with the community support of your peers.

There are no regular in-person classes during Unit 3, and you do not have to be based in London during this period (June, July and August). We encourage successful applicants to plan ahead where you think you would be best placed to spend your independent unit, based on your desired professional trajectories within the sector and existing networks

How will I be Assessed?
The assessments in this course are designed to equip you with the necessary skills to reflect critically on your performance practice as an artist, as well as design and implement plans for professional development and activity. Each of the three assessment points in the program offer flexibility for students to develop and document their learning in a variety of mediums suited to students’ individual needs and interests.

The aim of these assessments is to aid students in becoming articulate reflective practitioners, able to be both skilled performers and effectively communicate their practice with relevant professional audiences.

The capstone independent unit offers you time and support to undergo a period of self-directed professional activity and research. During this period, you will document, reflect on, and critically examine your performance practice while geographically and professionally situating yourself in a freelance ecosystem of your choice.

How often will I perform during the Programme?
There are multiple performance points during the year of the MA. Across the year you should expect to perform live in a repertory project and in a creation project with established choreographers, in a site-specific and/or immersive setting for a verbatim physical theatre project and in a student-led symposium that platforms your own work and ideas. You will have the opportunity to perform in the world-famous Place Theatre, in addition to several other exciting project specific locations across London.

You will also work towards professional level filming days for the digital projects that the course offers. These projects include the Movement for Fashion/Music Video project, the Movement for Film Specialism project, and the Experimental Technology project (working with AR/VR, AI and/or motion capture).

The course will equip you with familiarity in all the performance settings that a modern freelancer might be expected to be comfortable navigating.

Who will teach me?
The course team (course leaders and unit leaders) will be your consistent support team across the year, overseeing your development and tutoring you through the projects, your assessments, and the key moments of the course. They will be the familiar faces and long-term advocates with whom you can build strong foundations for the next stage of your development.

This support structure will act as the fertile ground into which we will invite your project leaders, industry-leading pioneers from the forefront of their respective creative areas, who will direct you in the dynamic performance projects that are at the heart of the programme.

Alongside this, workshop leaders will come to share their practices in intensive training blocks across the year, and visiting experts will lead course specific seminars to support the contextualisation of your learning in areas such as dance science, performance psychology, freelancer skills and professional development.

During your independent unit you will be paired with an individual industry-active mentor, who will be there to guide you and ask all the right questions as you approach the end of the programme.

A team of graduate assistants, all former students of the MA Dance: Performance programme, will support the running of the course and the course projects, providing you with friendly advice and supporting the project and course leaders in the day-to-day course activity.

Finally, you will be supported across the year by the dedicated student support team at LCDS, made up of experts in physical support, academic support and mental-health support.

We curate and programme contributing artists on a year-by-year basis to ensure industry relevance in a swiftly evolving professional landscape. Click here to see some of the Project Leaders and Guest Artists we have worked with on the MA Dance: Performance programme in previous years.

Where in London does the course take place?
The MA Dance: Performance programme has a multi-sited structure to allow us to run the performance projects at the most appropriate venues for each project. This mirrors the adaptiveness and flexibility needed in the professional performance ecosystem and familiarises you with the industry norms of shared-use commercial spaces.

Induction and assessment weeks take place at the main site of London Contemporary Dance School in Euston, where you will have regular access to all the rich resources that the famous building has to offer. The project weeks take place in professional dance houses and venues; In previous years these sites have included: Studio Wayne McGregor, East London Dance, English National Ballet and Sadler’s Wells East.

Are there any scholarships available for this programme?
The Place offers a select number of full- and/or partial- scholarships for the MA Dance: Performance programme to students who are a national of a country of the Global South and who are living/working in that country at the point of application. We also have a student fund to which all students can apply. You can find the links to financial support here on the LCDS website. If you are interested in applying for one of these scholarships or want to know more about financial support for the programme, please contact the course leader directly on tom.afiyan-english@theplace.org.uk.

Did we miss anything?
We are happy to answer any other questions you have. Feel free to contact the course leader Tom English directly on tom.afiyan-english@theplace.org.uk

Meet the 2023/24 Cohort