Duration:
1 year (full-time)
Number of credits:
180 credits
Start date(s):
September 2026
It all starts here. Develop your dance practice and performance skills by approaching them as research processes on this practice-research based programme.
Did you know?
We're in the top ten in the UK for postgraduate student satisfaction (PTES 2022, 2023)
Modules
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Skills
Get the skills needed for an exciting and fulfilling career.
You will gain skills around:
- approaching performance as a critical practice
- the complex contextual relationships that exist in making and performing dances
- your role as a collaborator in performance-making as one of agency and empowerment in a supportive environment.
You will be encouraged to develop and test new ideas and skills through your practice-research in order to imagine how they relate to training, practice, performance-making, dance philosophy and dramaturgy. You will be supported by the mentorship and teaching of experienced staff in our modern studios, and you will have the opportunity to work with in-house and visiting artists, scholars and a diverse community of peers.
We are within easy reach of London's lively dance culture and our campus has superb studios and a state-of-the-art theatre for dance students. We have excellent links with dance companies and creative organisations which enable us to provide stimulating workplace-learning opportunities.
Our BA Dance course is number one for learning resources in London (National Student Survey 2020).
Learning
A course built around you.
Using a framework of philosophical and aesthetic inquiry, the programme offers:
- a unique perspective to explore the concepts, assumptions and theories which underpin and inform dance practice and discourse.
- encounters with performance, devising dance and learning dance repertory
- access to the full range of optional modules which are offered to all our postgraduate students
The School is home to the internationally recognised Centre for Research in Arts and Creative Exchange, which gives students rich opportunities to investigate a broad range of cultural, artistic and embodied inquiry. These activities are positioned as critical, scholarly, embodied and creative in order to equip students for original and independent approaches to dance performance.
Course staff
You will be taught by artists and researchers who are leading specialists in their fields and provide an excellent springboard for you to thrive in your career in dance and the arts.
Dr. Chi-Fang Chao
Dr. Chi-Fang Chao specialises in dance anthropology and dance ethnography. She has studied dance cultures in several Asian regions, such as Taiwan, Okinawa and the latter’s diaspora communities. Her major research interests include ritual, spirituality and embodiment, and indigenous dance theatre in the post-colonial era.
Dr. Nicola Conibere
Nicola Conibere is a choreographer and academic. Her research uses choreographic practices to explore the potentials of how bodyminds relate. She is interested in the politics of performance and the potentials of spectatorial exchange: her work often investigates theatricality, public appearing and social choreography.
Hanna Gillgren
Hanna Gillgren (SE) is choreographer and curator for H2DANCE and Fest en Fest an artist-run festival for expanded choreography for UK and Nordic-based choreographers. She is part of the inaugural artistic cohort at Rose Choreographic School Sadler’s Wells East London (2024-26).
Professor Sara Houston
Sara is an award winning researcher and teacher. She won the BUPA Foundation Prize in 2011 for her pioneering work in dance and Parkinson’s. In 2014 she was a Finalist in the National Public Engagement Awards for her work engaging the general public in her Parkinson’s and dance research.
Professor Alexandra Kolb
Alexandra has lectured at universities and conservatoires in the UK and internationally, following her Ph.D. from Cambridge University. She draws on a background in Literature, Art History and Philosophy alongside Dance and Theatre to convey to her students a sense of the dance field’s breadth and its many overlaps with other artistic and scholarly developments.
Lalitaraja
Lalitaraja (Joachim Chandler MA) is a dance artist, educator and Feldenkrais practitioner based in the dance department at Roehampton University where he teaches choreography, contact improvisation and improvisation. As a performer he has worked with Scottish Ballet, Michael Clark, Adventures in Motion Pictures, Laurie Booth, Yolande Snaith and Charles Linehan among others.
Dr. Heike Salzer
Heike Salzer is a German dancer and artist-scholar. She fluidly moves between performance, choreography, and site specific screendance. In 2014 she founded WECreate Productions together with Ana Baer Carrilllo (US/MX) jointly directing award winning screendances, installations and multi-media performances that have been encountered by thousands of audiences in Asia, Europe, Middle East and the Americas.
Dr. Tamara Tomić–Vajagić
Dr. Tamara Tomić–Vajagić works across visual culture, digital media, and performance and is a Senior Lecturer in Dance Practices. She teaches across undergraduate and postgraduate degrees as well as researches and supervises doctoral projects on the themes of dance and visual art, mediated choreography, and dance history, aesthetics, and performance studies.
Mike Toon
Michael Toon trained at the Legat School and Urdang Academy before performing with London City Ballet, Vienna Festival Ballet and as an international freelance soloist. Alongside his stage career he co-founded Capitol Chamber Ballet Project and Heart of the Jester Productions, creating opportunities for collaboration between dancers, musicians and technicians.
Careers
An exciting career awaits.
The knowledge and skills gained from the programme will support careers which involve performance, choreography, dramaturgy, community dance practice, and commissioning dance. The programme also opens the opportunity for further study for a practice as research PhD.
You could work in roles such as:
- Professional Dancer
- Dance Choreographer
- Dance Educator
- Dance Company Director
- Dance Therapist
- Dance Researcher
- Arts Administrator (with a focus on dance)
- Dance Critic or Reviewer
How our careers service supports you
Our careers team is available to support you from the start of your studies until after you graduate. We will help you build your CV, prepare for interviews, and meet and learn from successful graduates working at the top of their careers. You’ll also have opportunities to work with our partners across London and beyond, and to attend a Roehampton jobs fair where you can find out about graduate opportunities and meet employers.
Open days
Get a real taste of our campus, community and what it’s like to study at Roehampton
Applying
UK postgraduate students apply through our direct application system.
Specific entry requirements
Applicants are required to provide a link to a short film (10 minutes maximum) of them dancing. This can be a solo dance, or an excerpt from a class or performance setting where the applicant is clearly identified in the film. The work should be accompanied by a short written statement (<250 words) which reveals the applicant’s interest in developing their performance practice.
General entry requirements
September 2025 entry tuition fees (UK)
| Level of study | Full-time | Part-time* |
| MA | £11,250 | £5,625 |
*Year 1 fee
We offer a wide range of scholarships and bursaries. See our financial support pages for UK students.
We also provide other ways to support the cost of living, including on-campus car parking, hardship support and some of the most affordable student accommodation and catering in London. Find out more about how we can support you.
International postgraduate students apply through our direct application system.
Specific entry requirements
Applicants are required to provide a link to a short film (10 minutes maximum) of them dancing. This can be a solo dance, or an excerpt from a class or performance setting where the applicant is clearly identified in the film. The work should be accompanied by a short written statement (<250 words) which reveals the applicant’s interest in developing their performance practice.
General entry requirements
September 2025 entry tuition fees (international)
| Level of study | Full-time | Part-time* |
| MA | £18,250 | £9,125 |
*Year 1 fee
We offer a wide range of scholarships and bursaries. See our financial support pages for international students.
We also provide other ways to support the cost of living, including on-campus car parking, hardship support and some of the most affordable student accommodation and catering in London. Find out more about how we can support you.
Need help or advice before applying?
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