Join our MDX Dance community and develop your skills as a professional dance artist. Our Dance Performance degree fosters individuality through rigorous technique training, collaborative projects, frequent performance opportunities and applied professional practices. You’ll be taught by a diverse team of industry professionals who will support you in discovering your potential.
We embrace digital alongside traditional teaching to enhance your learning. With the industry experience of our technical team and the high-quality digital media facilities available on campus, you will be fully supported in creating exciting and dynamic work.
Our course ranks as one of the UK’s top for dance, with national and international recognition. Your lecturers have years of industry and teaching experience that they'll share in practical, theoretical and creative contexts, so you get an understanding of what a career in dance really looks like.
Dance lives within the Faculty of Arts and Creative Industries, which is also home to an array of creative disciplines including music, animation, theatre and interior and architectural design, and so we strongly encourage cross-disciplinary collaboration. Being based in London, the creative and cultural hub, means there are plenty of opportunities for participation and inspiration, right on your doorstep. You'll also have access to four fully equipped dance studios in addition to our flagship Grove Dance Theatre, which has a seating capacity of 144, a dedicated dressing room, a specialist lighting rig, and many more extras to facilitate an authentic stage environment.
You’ll be matched with a Personal Tutor and Student Learning Assistants who are directly related to your course. We also have close links with the sport and rehabilitation clinic, so you’ll receive all the support you need to maintain physical wellbeing. Most importantly, your course tutors know all the hurdles you'll face and are always on hand and ready to help!
Find out more about our MDX Dance community via our Instagram @MdxUniDance
*this course is subject to review. We periodically re-evaluate our programmes to make sure the content and teaching stay up to date and relevant. Please check this page regularly for updates.
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You will intensively engage with the skills of dance performance, encompassing dance technique, safe dance practice, dance performance, dance repertoire, creative processes/innovative choreography. You will do this through expert guidance in a range of dance techniques of the Graham-based, Humphrey-based, Cunningham-based, Release-based, Urban/Hybrid supplemented by Ballet, open classes and opportunities to actively participate in interdisciplinary entities, all of which contribute vitally to the development of technique and dance performance skills.
The theoretical modules are designed to nurture enquiring minds alongside the performance and creative components developing your academic analytical and critical thinking skills, deepening your anatomical knowledge, of how the body works in relation to dance, understanding and applying safe dance practice, engaging with creativity and enterprise and learning professional practice strategies to help you navigate your journey through the dance profession.
The totality of the above will provide you with a solid skilled and academic foundation for your career in the creative arts and if you wish to further your studies by enrolling in one of our postgraduate degrees.
Year One will provide you with practice-based experiences to ground the inter-relationship between subject areas such as, dance techniques, performance, anatomy, choreographic processes, collaboration and independent work, cultural identities and connections of current and past practices.
Year Two allow you to develop your professional practice strategies and skills, dance techniques and performance opportunities, creativity and enterprise – varied modes of artistic presentation, academic frameworks relevant to dance, dance science and safe dance practice.
Year Three will give you the opportunity to further extend and apply your knowledge, understanding and skill within a professional practice context. Dance artistry develops building on the prior technique and performance skills embedded within Years One and Two to attain a sophisticated physical articulation.
'Graduateness’ in the Creative Arts field in general cannot be defined in the singular but will involve a range of both subject specific and general skills you will gain. The transferable skills you will gain are much sought after in many industry environments. These skills include those of creative ingenuity and vision, communication (performance, oral, digital, written), practice-as-research and analysis, ability to work independently interpersonally and in groups to deadlines and under pressure and with flexibility, imagination, self-motivation and organisation. You will develop all these skills and practises across the Dance Programmes.
The Emerging Dance Artist aims to develop your knowledge and understanding of the diverse range of ideas, practices, and skills embedded in and needed to develop a career in the dance field and creative industries.
You will be placed at the centre of a learning experience that will encourage you to explore the interconnectedness between subject areas through participating in creative, collaborative, and research projects, practice-based experiences, and performances.
The module develops key theoretical and analytical frameworks to enhance your understanding of methodological approaches and theoretical perspectives for analysis and interrogation of dance practices and dance works.
The module will also introduce you to areas of professional practice within the dance field and develop your understanding of ethical implications, strategies, and skills required for navigating a journey through the profession.
This module aims to equip you with the knowledge and skills to develop your understanding of the moving body, enabling you to enhance your physical dance practice/performance.
You will be introduced to common postural changes in dancers, warm-up/cool down, supplementary fitness training, and nutrition; you will consider their effects on dance practice/performance and wellbeing.
This module builds on your creative experience in Year 1 by developing your knowledge and understanding of creative processes and practices in dance.
You will be introduced to different modes of creation and presentation (screen, site-specific, and theatre) with the aim of producing a creative outcome.
The module also introduces you to different approaches to framing, presenting, and disseminating your creative work within the dance industry to develop the innovative skills necessary to frame and publicise your work in relation to the requirements of different creative platforms in the industry.
Through practical work, you will explore various dance techniques, enhance your technical and artistic abilities and develop your knowledge and understanding of technique and performance.
You will be introduced to learning and performing dance works ranging from twentieth-century repertoire to current creations; to develop an understanding of the principles, methods, and processes embedded in dance works and performance.
In this module, you will make vital links with the wider dance profession, develop key skills and attributes and engage in practice-based experiences (project-based experiences or work placements).
The practice-based experience might take place in areas such as; dance facilitation (in and beyond formal educational settings), and work placements with dance organisations, the breadth of which may encompass areas of dance administration, journalism, marketing, tour management, and arts funding, to name a few.
By the end of the module and learning through reflection on your engagement with professional practice, you will gain vital employability skills necessary to effectively plan and pursue a career in the creative arts industry.
This module will provide you with exposure to a professional rehearsal environment through participation in the creation of dance works.
Through engaging in choreographic processes, you will develop a sense of personal artistic interpretation and an awareness of ‘self’ and enhance your understanding of the role the dancer plays in the creation and performance of such work.
Throughout the module, you will have the opportunity to investigate, develop and apply varying rehearsal techniques as well as to perform the created work in a professional theatre context.
This is a practice-based module that focuses on the development of a sophisticated understanding and physical articulation of the artistic and technical skills embedded in dance techniques.
The in-depth engagement with a range of techniques will challenge and enhance your performance of Cohan’s (2013) eight elements of dance.
Alongside the technical training, you are expected to advance your physical fitness by building on the Dance Fitness Indicator (DFI) results obtained in DAN2544 Dance Science.
This module aims to develop your understanding of dance repertoire.
You will be challenged to apply and expand your technical proficiency, and acquire stylistic and interpretive skills through your engagement with rehearsals in a directed context.
Through guided and independent research and practice, you will explore the multiple layers inherent in the rehearsal process and performance of dance repertoire.
More information about this course
See the course specification for more information about typical course content outside of the coronavirus outbreak:
Optional modules are usually available at levels 5 and 6, although optional modules are not offered on every course. Where optional modules are available, you will be asked to make your choice during the previous academic year. If we have insufficient numbers of students interested in an optional module, or there are staffing changes which affect the teaching, it may not be offered. If an optional module will not run, we will advise you after the module selection period when numbers are confirmed, or at the earliest time that the programme team make the decision not to run the module, and help you choose an alternative module.
Middlesex Dance students share their experiences on the BA Dance Performance.
Natalie Merrifield discusses her time as a student at Middlesex.
A degree in Dance from Middlesex opens up a wide range of careers:
There is such a wide range of performance opportunities available to you once you graduate. Recent graduates have performed with:
After graduation, you might wish to enhance your skills with an internship. Our graduates have taken advantage of a range of dance internships at studios and organisations such as Dance Research Studio, Dance Programme Support Graduate Intern at Trinity Laban, Ombetja Yehinga Organisation Namibia, Tanzplattform Rhein-Main Frankfurt, DanceXchange, Imperial Society of Teachers of Dancing.
There are also a number of arts organisations you could forge a career with and previous graduates have been successful at One Dance UK, The Lowry Theatre, Creation Box, MOVE IT, Capezio, East London Dance, DanceXchange, Big Dance Bus, Arts Depot, The Place, Dance UK, Jackson's Lane Theatre, London Studio Centre, Activate Performing Arts Richard Alston Dance Company, Dance4, Blac Canvas, Northern School of Contemporary Dance, National Dance Teachers Association (NDTA), The Royal Ballet School.
Interested in choreography? Our graduates have worked with the following companies GradLab ACE funded project, Young Choreographer South West, Resolutions!, ACE funded dance artist Ieva Kuniskis, Siobhan Davies Dance Young Artists Advisory Group.
You could also be successful in the journalism industry and several of our graduates are working as dance writers or critics for Resolution, Dance UK, Dance Direct Blog, and Cloud Dance Festival.
Dance at Middlesex counts many distinguished names among its graduates:
Adam Benjamin trained in Dance and Fine Art at Middlesex. He is the co-founder of CandoCo Dance Company, one of the world's premier companies for disabled and non-disabled dancers, and the author of the widely-read book Making an Entrance, Theory and practice for disabled and non-disabled dancers.
Mavin Khoo took both his undergraduate dance degree and postgraduate degree in Choreography at Middlesex. Malaysian-born, he performed with many of today's leading choreographers, including Akram Khan and Wayne McGregor. He is also celebrated as one of the leading male solo Bharata Natyam performers, both in India and around the world.
Jenny Sealey did her undergraduate dance degree at Middlesex. She was the Co-Artistic Director of the 2012 Paralympic Games Opening Ceremony, and is Artistic Director of Graeae, a major disabled-led theatre company in the UK. She was awarded an MBE in 2009 for services to disability arts.
Our Employability Service can help you to develop your employability skills and get some valuable work experience. We provide workshops, events and one to one support with job hunting, CVs, covering letters, interviews, networking and so on. We also support you in securing part-time work, placements, internships, and volunteering opportunities, and offer an enterprise support service for those looking to start their own business.
Anne had a long career as a dancer with London Contemporary Dance Theatre, (under the name Anne Went) performing internationally including the Olympic Arts Festivals at both the Los Angeles 1984 and the Seoul Olympics 1988. In September 2014, Anne came out of ‘Performance Retirement’ to dance at Sadler’s Wells Theatre, London and was nominated, alongside the cast of the Elders Project, for the Lawrence Olivier Award for the most outstanding achievement in Dance. She has served on international dance panels and is currently a mentor for One Dance UK Dance Teachers Mentoring Programme. Her research coheres around the specific focus on the mastery of Robert Cohan’s method of teaching.
Chris holds an MA in Contemporary Dance with Distinction from University of Kent. He was a dancer with Richard Alston Dance Company and London Contemporary Dance Theatre and has choreographed and directed extensively for theatre, film and television. As a company teacher he taught for the major contemporary dance companies including Rambert Dance Company, National Dance Company Wales and Phoenix Dance Theatre, he taught at the Royal Ballet Upper School in Covent Garden for many years. Chris is a Fellow of the Higher Education Academy.
Dr Bernkopf has danced as a professional ballet dancer in Austria, Germany, the Czech and Slovak Republics. She studied pedagogies of Ballet at the Academy of Performing arts in Prague. She studied for her PhD at the University of Surrey.
Helen is a dancer, choreographer and movement practitioner and has toured as a performer, taught within a variety of settings in and beyond formal education and presented work at venues, festivals and conferences across the UK, Europe and USA. As a movement practitioner, Helen specialises in release-based techniques and improvisation. She is currently co-curator and choreographer for the trip project (Turning Research Ideas into Practice) with DancingStrong and is a member of TIN (TransDisciplinary Improvisation Network). Helen has previously served as an executive board member for DanceHE, worked as Artistic Assessor for Arts Council England and is an External Examiner for other HEIs.
Jac Coxall
Dance Studies BA graduate
One thing I loved about training at Middlesex University was getting the chance to be around such diversity. I loved working with people who had completely different strengths and interests within dance. The technique classes continually pushed me as I moved through my three years of training and helped me to develop such a strong technical base. Dance at Middlesex has so much to offer, so many amazing opportunities, so many incredible tutors and facilities. I took so much from my 3 years of training, things I still refer back to now, 2 years later.
Since graduating from BA Dance Studies I have gone onto perform with a contemporary and commercial company and started to explore a performance path. I competed in the Britain’s Got Talent live semi finals and also featured in Zayn Malik and SIAs music video ‘Dusk till Dawn’. I have developed a portfolio career working professionally within the fields of choreography, teaching and as a dance artist in London schools and universities. My big dream as my career broadens is to be booked for a world tour with a professional music artist and I’m getting closer to that dream every day! Middlesex University was one of the best decisions I ever made!
Joshua Chapman
Dance Performance BA student
Joshua explains what it was like working with renowned choreographer Robert Cohan building up to his final year degree performance.
Jennifer Vogtle
Dance Performance BA graduate
I chose to study at Middlesex because of the amount of practical hours and varied techniques the course offered and because I wanted a real university experience rather than a vocational or conservatoire route. The BA Dance Performance course introduced me to four very different contemporary techniques (Cohan, Release, Cunningham and Humphrey) that have formed a strong and well-rounded platform of movement vocabulary. The programme also made me start to delve into my own creativity more through choreography and improvisation. My three years not only progressed my physical training but also taught me about contemporary dance history, gave me skills to work and support myself as a freelance dancer, and an in-depth anatomy education that has been an invaluable asset across my portfolio career.
Being in London offered endless opportunities; while I was studying I had the incredible experience of working with Professor Robert Cohan, re-staging his work ‘Forest'. All the tutors are very passionate about their subjects and were always very helpful throughout the three years. They have become professional contacts and friends that I can still reach out to now.
If you are considering studying dance further this course will help equip you for any kind of career in the dance industry, from performing, choreography, admin and education to name a few! If you put the work in and make the most of the amazing resources available at Middlesex you will grow immensely as a dancer.
I'm currently dancing with Michaela Cisarikova Dance Co and Black Orchid Ballerinas and doing other work I've been contracted for with Regents University and various photographers. Also since graduating I have toured with Ensemble Dance Co, worked for Eddie Peake, and Yorke Dance Project and am currently getting into more circus related work with my aerial and acrobatic training.
Jessica Wilson
Dance Performance BA graduate
I began working as the Marketing and Communications Assistant for the Royal Academy of Dance the week following my final degree performance at artsdepot. Since I have also taken on the role of Editorial Assistant for the RAD's flagship publication, the Dance Gazette and the smaller member publication, Focus on Members.
Since graduating from the Middlesex Dance Performance course in 2012 with a First Class Honours, I have continued to write and review for a variety of external publications, both online and in print, including those such as Critical Dance, A Younger Theatre and 4dancers and Resolution! I have also continued to write and co-ordinate the blog for dance wear retailer Dance Direct, and write for retailer Dancewear Central under a pseudonym. Dance writing has opened up many opportunities for me, including being asked to guest lecture on Dance Writing in the Professional Studies module at Middlesex. In terms of performance, I have worked with Rambert's youth dance company, Quicksilver as well as being a senior dancing member of The Chelmsford Ballet Company since 2012.
We’ll carefully manage any future changes to courses, or the support and other services available to you, if these are necessary because of things like changes to government health and safety advice, or any changes to the law.
Any decisions will be taken in line with both external advice and the University’s Regulations which include information on this.
Our priority will always be to maintain academic standards and quality so that your learning outcomes are not affected by any adjustments that we may have to make.
At all times we’ll aim to keep you well informed of how we may need to respond to changing circumstances, and about support that we’ll provide to you.
Start: September 2023, EU/International: September 2023
Duration: 3 years full-time
Code: W550
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Duration: 18 months part-time
Code: W49X
Start: September 2023, EU/International induction: September 2023
Duration: 3 years full-time, 6 years part-time
Code: W301
