Liverpool has a thriving dance culture with performances, classes and workshops, and nationally and internationally known dancers and choreographers, community dance artists, and prize-winning researchers who contribute regularly to the course.
The programme includes Jazz and Afro-Caribbean dance, south and east Asian dance, improvisation, traditional dance and tap, historical and technological dances, as well as western theatre dance practice.
Dance at Hope will give you the opportunity to try different dance forms and develop your choreographic and performance skills.
Dance at Hope aims to investigate social and cultural meanings and uses, historical backgrounds, and artistic values of the different traditions which make up local and global 21st-century dance culture.
Special benefits
Hope’s fine dance studios host workshops with outstanding artists and national and international conferences – Youth Dance England’s national conference and Chaturangan Marks of Time were recently held here.
There are dance opportunities for students who wish to develop their dance performance skills outside of the structured timetable.
What will I study?
Level 1
At Level 1 you will develop skills in choreography and performance practice. Dance in Context aims to locate dance practice within an appropriate framework of informing ideas, history and skills, while maintaining emphasis on student creativity, performance and production. The course establishes the Dance pathway’s particular focus on cultural pluralism, introducing the study of performance traditions on non-western cultures and their presence, meanings and use in 21st century UK society. Dance in Context integrates practical work (performance, creation, design and presentation of dance) with theoretical studies (analytical, historical, critical and contextual). The study and practice of western theatre dance proceeds alongside that of the performance traditions of non-western cultures.
Level 2
At Level 2 you continue to develop your knowledge and critical dance practice, technically, creatively, and in performance. You interrogate choreographic traditions and associated contextual studies and can choose modules in Dance and Cultural Identity, The Dancing Body, Alternative Dance Performance and Dance and Modernity.
Level 3
At Level 3 you choose to major or minor in you dance studies, or choose a single exit in Dance only. You study areas which prepare you for work in dance in the community, in education, as an independent dance artist, or for a range of postgraduate dance studies and can chose from Fusion in 20th/21st century Dance, Dance and Postmodernity, Community Dance, Choreography and Performance, Advanced Dance Techniques and Negotiated Learning Contract.
How will I study? Teaching methods integrate theory and practice and include practical classes and workshops, screenings, lectures and tutorials. There is the opportunity to undertake a supervised research project at Level 3. How will I be assessed? Tasks include practical assessments in class and in performance, presentations, class tests, reviews, essays and choreographic projects. What do our graduates do? All graduates of performing arts courses have highly developed social and practical skills and are very employable in a wide range of workplaces.
Destinations of our graduates include:
Freelance dancers and choreographers
Community dance artists
Teachers in primary and secondary education
Arts administrators
Arts Card A charge (currently £50) is made for visits to performances and workshops, which are necessary to an artist’s education. Specific entry requirements
All applicants will be required to attend an audition.