Special Study (DNCE30002)

Students will select an appropriate previously produced dance work from the repertory of a nationally or internationally recognised choreographer as the basis for research. Permission to perform a short excerpt, typically a solo or duet, from the dance work is to be sought from the choreographer or relevant body. This process will require the realisation of any relevant production elements including sound/music, lighting, costume and design properties. The performance will be in an in house, non-advertised educative context. The selected choreographer and dance work must not be, or have been, the focus of any part of the course of study during the period of the student’s enrolment. The investigation of a thesis which encompasses and stems from research into influences in the choreographer’s background, the development and chronology of the choreographer’s body of artistic work, analysis of the choreographic material within the chosen dance work and the evaluation of the work’s aesthetic and artistic significance will be the basis for a research paper. A viva voce will require student to analyse and draw together research findings and the personal learning outcomes of embodying and re-mounting the choreographic excerpt.

The physical development of technical and performance skills, the investigation of the choreographic craft plus the analysis of movement vocabularies and contextual information that underpin the first two years of the course are drawn together and further extended in this subject. Students are required to work independently with the aid of a supervisor rather than in the teacher or choreographer driven manner of many other dance subjects. Any required production elements resulting from a student’s choice of a particular dance work will be self-funded by the student.