About Dance
“We see you not just as
students but as artists in training. “
The Dance programme at York St John is a
friendly environment in which to develop your skills as a dance
maker and achieve your full potential.
You will extend your understanding of the art
form and challenge your preconceptions of dance and choreography.
But at YSJ, dance students learn not only how to become performers
but also how to market their work, manage a tour and do the
bookings
“Our
graduates will have portfolio careers where they will do lots of
these things themselves,” explains Head of Programme Elaine Harvey.
“That will include everything from writing funding applications to
choreographing a one-person show. We aim to give them the equipment
to tackle all these aspects of professional
practice.”
Dance students can look forward to:
- superb new facilities including a performance space
fully-equipped dance studio.
- working partnerships with York City Council Arts and Culture
Department and Yorkshire Dance (Leeds).
- a campus set in the beautiful, historic city of York but
close to the regional dance agency, Yorkshire Dance (Leeds), and a
range of artistic venues.
We have extremely good links with the wider
professional industry and this is supported by a team of staff who
are all practicing dance artists and academics themselves. The
course also has strong links to dance activity and development in
the local community through partnerships with local practitioners
in the arts, education and health.
Dance in the community is a strong component
of the course and students will find themselves not just in studios
but in a variety of professional settings (including primary and
secondary schools, residential centres for elderly people and
hospitals). A second year module “Introduction to community dance”
is available and in their third year, students can choose a
community placement which in can lead to them securing a BA Hons in
community practice
Through our industry contacts we are able to
offer students practice based opportunities to discover which area
of dance they are interested in pursuing in the world of work. You
will make your own choreographic works and have an opportunity to
present them annually at public festivals of creative
excellence and access professional placements with arts
organisations and dance companies.
“At YSJ we
aim to give undergraduate students an experience that normally they
would have to wait until they are graduates to
have.”
In their second
year dance students can take part in an exchange
programme at Potsdam State University of New
York.
Also in the second year, every module features
guest lecturers directly from the world of dance practice, and a
guest choreographer works with students on site specific piece of
work.
“All of this comes to fruition in the third
year,” says Elaine Harvey. “We call it the professional year when
students are able to make their own work to a really good
performance level." A professional choreographer collaborates
with third year students, culminating in a performance which then
tours to live audiences around the Yorkshire region.
“We see
them not as students, but as artists in
training.“
Image provided courtesy of Roshana
Ruben-Mayhew.