Course Award: | Duration: | Application Deadline: | In Person Audition Dates: | Interview Dates: | Places: |
MA | 1 year Full-time | Midnight 25 January 2026 | February 2026 | February 2026 | 18 |
Push Your Artistry Beyond Traditional Performance
The MA Interdisciplinary Performance is designed for dancers, physical actors, and performance artists at various stages of their careers who are eager to push the boundaries of their practice. It’s ideal for artists seeking to move beyond traditional performance methods and collaborate within an interdisciplinary environment. Whether you are newly graduated or a mid-career artist looking to evolve, this course supports you in redefining your creative identity and expanding your artistic impact.
This is a performance-focused MA designed to support freelance artists who want to work across a diverse range of creative contexts – from dance and theatre to visual arts, live art, and interdisciplinary performance. The course centres on developing your stage presence, devising skills, and collaborative practices through an intensive programme of laboratories, workshops, and creative projects.
You’ll work alongside leading interdisciplinary guest artists and companies of international calibre, engaging in real-world creative processes that reflect the current professional landscape. These experiences provide a deep, embodied understanding of how to co-author work, adapt to varied performance environments, and contribute meaningfully to collaborative creation. By the end of the course, you’ll be equipped not just with advanced performance skills, but with the confidence and versatility to thrive as a freelance artist in today’s evolving performance industries.
Previously commissioned projects include: Punchdrunk, Johannes Weiland, Complicité Theatre, Florence Peake, Gecko theatre Company, Susan Sentler, Benji Reid, Dan Canham.
Previously Laboratories and intensive workshops with: Hannes Langolf, Rob Hayden, Eleanor Sikorsky, Em Whitfield Brooks, Tom Roden, AΦE Virtual Reality
Eligible home-fee paying postgraduate students can apply for a postgraduate loan from the Student Loans Company to help with course fees and living costs
For detailed information on tuition fees, financial support, and associated costs for all courses, visit our Fees and Finance page here: www.nscd.ac.uk/study/fees-finance/postgraduate
Home | Overseas |
£ 11,330 | £ 19,570 |
This module will explore skills, approaches and methods of collaborative and devised processes to help students gain detailed knowledge and skills in a variety of contexts. Sessions will be taught through a mix of practical workshops, independent tasks, reading, discussions and creative processes. The module will culminate in a collaboratively devised performance project, giving students the opportunity to apply their learning in a professionally modelled context.
This module will cover key areas such as understanding collaboration, investigating authorship, agency, and decision-making. It will explore various devising methods, including task-based approaches, improvisation, play, composition, and research. Additionally, students will engage in ensemble creation, learning methodologies for building and working effectively as a group. The module will also emphasise interdisciplinary collaboration, encouraging work across and between different disciplines. Throughout the course, students will be supported in critically reflecting on their process, fostering self-awareness in their creative practice.
This module is designed to enable students to utilise classes and workshops to develop their understanding of performance, creative and devising processes, as well as ensure that they are equipped to physically contribute effectively in studio-based environments. Students will experience a range of sessions designed to extend their understanding of performance interpretation, physical execution of technical material and also provide strategies for movement observation and analysis which are key in supporting all-round continual development.
Classes will be led by a range of tutors and will ensure that students experience relevant styles and approaches which are current in the dance community. There will be a focus on individual personal practice, enhancing skills of reflection to ensure that students are able to identify and apply their skills in a range of contexts, thus ensuring the versatility required of performance artists in the employment landscape.
Students will also be supported to develop their ability to give and receive feedback, to maintain high levels of personal commitment and motivation and to interact in a productive manner within group settings. Skills of self-awareness gained through reflection and analysis should support students in developing an autonomous approach to their work, supporting their progression into the professional world and emphasising the importance of life-long learning.
In this module, students will work on developing and refining their skills as performers, exploring a range of approaches and methods to performative modes and environments. Students will explore a range of different performance scenarios, including improvisation, movement research, working across different art forms such as dance, theatre, film and visual art. This will enable them to develop experiential understanding of stage presence, performative styles and how to work across different interdisciplinary performance situations.
This module is taught through a number of laboratories and performance projects with selected practitioners that will question and deepen their knowledge within performance. Each of these laboratories will allow the opportunity for immersion within a particular practice and offer opportunities to perform in a range of settings such as proscenium arch, site-based, digital media and installations. The module will include both performance opportunities and space for the students to develop their own practice.
Through these investigations students will deepen their reflective practice, engaging in critical self-reflection, ongoing analysis of their performance process and linking this to theoretical frameworks. This will lead to a critical reflection, where students reflect on the learning in this module, as well as link this to the preceding aspects of their studies.
In this module, students will undertake a substantial and focused research project based on a critical and systematic understanding of current knowledge. Research outcomes may take a range of forms including performative or choreographic work, lecture demonstration or dissertation. Students will be expected to draw on their experiences from earlier in the MA programme, with the opportunity to utilise this expertise within practice centred research frameworks.
The module will equip students with a range of supporting skills to undertake this project successfully, including individual tutorial support focused on the student’s research work. Student outcomes will be presented in the most effective mode for the individual’s work, including supporting contextual information as appropriate to the research field. Where any students work collaboratively, they will provide evidence for their individual contribution and research enquiry.
This module is seen as an opportunity for students to apply the specificity of their learning on the course to a project directly relevant to their on-going professional development.
The school is well equipped to facilitate students’ work in state-of-the-art facilities not shared by any subject area other than dance.
NSCD’s MA Interdisciplinary Performance graduates work across a broad spectrum of creative industries, performing in and co-creating innovative work that spans dance, theatre, live art, film, and immersive performance. Many have joined established companies, collaborated with leading directors and choreographers, or have formed their own collectives and independent projects. The course’s strong focus on devising, collaboration, and interdisciplinary practice equips students to thrive in contemporary performance settings that value originality, adaptability, and artistic voice. Graduates are also well-prepared to pursue further academic research, teaching, or roles in curation and creative production.
IDP 24: Gary Clarke Company
IDP 24: Freelance performer collaborations include Candela Capitan, Susan Sentler
IDP 25: Independent performer and choreographer
IDP 25: freelance artist across different mediums
Entry is through a successful application, audition and interview.
This course is open to graduates of two or three-year dance/performance e.g. theatre/circus training programmes at Higher Education level, or dance artists with professional experience and equivalent vocational performing arts training.
Students with English as a second language will need a 6.0 ESOL level (with a minimum of 6.0 in reading and 5.5 in speaking and listening) or equivalent.
Any questions about any of the above can be directed to/further details can be obtained from admissions@nscd.ac.uk
Firstly, you will need to submit an application via our online application portal.
The application will include:
Following your application you will need to complete an audition, this can be in person or via video submission.
For more information, visit the How to Apply page.
To qualify for admission to this course, candidates are also required to pass an audition.
The audition may be held at NSCD or other partner locations where you will experience a range of physical activities, such as contemporary, improvisation, devising and creating.
The day will include time for informal chats between candidates and NSCD so the School can get to know more about your practice and artistic vision.
For more information, visit the How to Apply page.
Applicants are only required to submit a video audition if they are shortlisted from Step 1.
Video auditions will include:
For more information, visit the How to Apply page.
Candidates that are successful at audition will be invited to an online interview with the Programme Lead.
For more information, visit the How to Apply page.
A strong grounding in either dance, theatre, circus arts or performance, with a desire to expand their creative practice across disciplines.
Daily commitment to themselves and the company in contributing towards company activities and intense professional training.
Ability to work together with other company members and integrate into a professional company structure seamlessly.
Eager to gain exposure to different creative encounters and open to working with professional artists and adopting their processes.
At NSCD, we understand that the dance industry is demanding, that’s why 100% of students requesting wellbeing support are seen within a week, demonstrating our commitment to student resilience. Student support is important because it directly affects academic success, wellbeing, and long-term development.
Learn more about how NSCD’s Student Services can assist you with academic, wellbeing, disability, and injury support: www.nscd.ac.uk/study/student-life/student-services
Student SupportAs part of your decision-making process, we appreciate you will want to research potential programmes of study ahead of application deadlines. To enable you to do this, we work hard to ensure that our website is as up to date as possible.
Although we try to ensure that this is as current as possible, there are always changes we make to ensure that the course is as vibrant and up to date with sector requirement as possible. Dance is a dynamic, fast-moving sector and our courses evolve to ensure they reflect and respond to the industry’s needs.
Sometimes it may be necessary to change course content, delivery and entry requirements, if we believe it will enable us to improve the high-quality experience we offer. Changes sometimes comes because of student feedback/consultations, external examiner feedback and consultation with industry partners.
All reasonable care has been taken to ensure course information is accurate, however NSCD cannot guarantee all courses will be available in exactly the form and detail described here. We encourage you to regularly check the pages of the course(s) you are interested in. At Open Days, Auditions, and Interview Days we will take the opportunity to inform you about any proposed changes and will also notify you if any changes are made after you have accepted an offer.
Our courses are made up of a series of modules. Some are compulsory and some optional, however, we may not be able to offer the full list of modules every year. Option availability will depend on how many students choose a particular option. For an option to run we usually stipulate that 13 students have chosen to take the option. When you accept your offer, please bear in mind that on rare occasions, we may not be able to offer all of the optional modules. Before each year’s teaching starts you will discuss your preferred options with the Head of Faculty and Curriculum Leads who will try to ensure you are able to take them but cannot guarantee it.
