Type: Postgraduate
Qualification: MA Contemporary Dance Performance
Duration: 1 year (full-time only)
Validated by: University of Kent
VERVE is a one-year, full-time programme that offers dancers a safe and inspiring space to grow as an artist, rigorously challenge their physical skill and build an understanding of the professional working environment, as part of a touring contemporary dance company.
Applications for 2022 entry are now closed.
Read the programme announcement for 2022/23
VERVE is the postgraduate company of Northern School of Contemporary Dance. This MA equips students with Professional performance skills as members of a touring Contemporary dance company. Each year the company commissions choreographers from all over the world to create an artistically distinct, physically daring and engaging programme of dance work.
The programme offers emerging dance artists the opportunity to challenge and develop their skills across a varied repertoire of work, guided by teaching staff, alongside an exciting range of visiting artists. VERVE provides dancers with a safe and inspiring space to grow their individual artistry and rigorously challenge their physical skill. Dancers develop their identities as performers, whilst building an understanding of the professional working environment to support them in their future careers.
The company tours extensively to venues and festivals across the UK and internationally, in recent years performing in Austria, Germany, Italy, Malta, Spain and Switzerland. VERVE seeks connections with partner institutions, industry professionals, choreographers and companies, to broaden and enrich the students’ experience and understanding.
Choreographers who have previously worked with the company include Akram Khan, Maxine Doyle, Sita Ostheimer, Noa Zuk, Lali Ayguade, Ben Duke, Lenka Vagnerova, Douglas Thorpe, Joan Clevillé, Anton Lachky, Lea Anderson, Ben Wright, Mari Carrasco and Hannes Langolf.
NSCD programmes of study are validated by the University of Kent. The Programme Specification is available here: MA Contemporary Dance Performance – Programme Specification
Our postgraduate programmes are open to graduates of two/three-year dance training programmes at higher education level, who would therefore usually be 21+ years of age, or to dance artists with some professional experience. This course is for recent graduates or graduates with extensive performance experience.
The course operates on a modular basis. Most modules count for either 30 or 60 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 approximately 60 credits per term. All students take a total of 180 credits at Level 7 for the MA as a whole.
Our teaching is informed by research, and module content changes periodically to reflect developments in the discipline.
You are taught through a combination of practical classes and workshops, lectures and seminars. Seminars and small group tutorials enable you to discuss and develop your understanding of topics covered in smaller groups. In addition, you have timetabled meetings with your academic tutors. You use industry-standard facilities throughout your course.
At level 7 (as a guide) you typically have around 24-30 contact hours per week, typically consisting of:
NSCD employs a wide variety of assessment methods including formative, continuous and summative assessment.
Assessment evidence is collected through:
Students receive ongoing feedback in practical classes and through the tutorial system in which professional and academic development are considered and evaluated.
Your overall workload consists of class contact hours, around 24-30 hours per week, on top of this independent learning which is expected to be at least 2 hours per module, rehearsals (varies) and assessment activity with each credit taken equating to a total study time of around 32 hours. While your actual contact hours may depend varying aspects of delivery e.g. intensive rehearsal periods or technical weeks or touring, the following information gives an indication of how much time you will need to allocate to different activities at each level of the course.
Download Course Fact File Verve Company websiteBased on a comparison with other HE Dance degrees of the same price, NSCD are devoted to the experience we give our students and to what we try to offer them as ‘value added’ for their course fees:
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