Course

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Alongside a varied basic programme, you will also be given freedom to choose, allowing you to focus, go into greater depth and specialise as an artisteducator. This ties in with the needs of the professional field, which calls for dance professionals with their own vision. During the course, you’ll build the experience, knowledge and skills you need in order to make a successful start to your career.

Structure: three core components

The course consists of three main components: Dance Practice, Artistic Practice and Learning Practice.

Dance Practice: Focused on dance

In Dance Practice, you’ll go deeper into the world of dance. You’ll develop your dance qualities in a broad palette of dance forms, ranging from Hip Hop and Contemporary to Jazz, Floorwork and Classical ballet. After a foundation programme in the first year, from the second year of the course onwards you’ll choose a programme made up of different dance forms in which you wish to develop further. In the Dance in Context course component, you’ll explore dance history, dance analysis and reflection on dance in connection with current developments in society.

Artistic Practice: Focused on the field

Artistic Practice takes place in the professional field, where you will be immersed in various contexts such as the Extramural Professional Field, Education and Society. From the start of the course, you’ll start gaining practical experience, applying your knowledge and developing your skills. The Artistic Practices are structured as 9-week periods, with a specific focus in each period. During the course, you’ll complete 14 Artistic Practices. From Artistic Practice 10 (in the third year), you’ll have the opportunity to go into more depth or instead broaden your focus. In the Artistic Practices, you will be working with an enquiring and entrepreneurial attitude and developing your research and entrepreneurial skills.

Learning Practice: Focused on your development as an artisteducator

Learning Practice centres on your professional and personal development as an artisteducator in dance. You’ll investigate how you want to give meaning and how you can develop your ability to do so  in various course components, such as Learning Lab, Makerslab, Community, Dance Education Research and Free Space.  In Learning lab, you explore your identity as an artist in education through artistic research, you reflect and you receive coaching. In Makerslab, you further develop your artistic identity by making dance. During the first half the year, you’ll be given all kinds of tools; in the second half of the year, collectives are formed which engage in a longer making process together. In Dance Education Research, you explore educational theory, pedagogy, methodology, developmental psychology and philosophy. In Community, you organise a community activity, performance or event of your choice with students from other years. For three separate weeks per year there is Free Space, the content of which you get to shape yourself. You can also decide to be part of a performance created over the course of the week by a guest choreographer, or participate in an international programme: the Joint Module in Sweden and Denmark, in which ArtEZ collaborates with DOCH and Rama.

Programme structure

In the first year, you lay the foundations, followed by the main phase in years two and three and finally the graduation phase in year four. Each year is made up of four 9-week periods, with a transition week in between. This structure has been designed with you in mind, linking in with the innovative curriculum and flexibilisation initiatives within and outside ArtEZ. It makes it easier for you to follow modules elsewhere in the future if you want to.

Year 1: Foundational year

Dance Practice: Over four periods, you develop in all kinds of different dance forms such as Contemporary Dance, Physical Dynamics, Improvisation, Ballet and Hip Hop. In Dance in Context, you immerse yourself in different subjects based on dance history, dance analysis and reflection on dance. In addition, you study Knowledge of the Physical Aspects of Dance.

Learning Practice: Each week, you’ll participate in Learning Lab, Makerslab and Community. You’ll take classes in Dance Education Research and make your own programme for Free Space.

Artistic Practice: In year 1, you take Artistic Practices 1-4. They are:

1. The professional field of the Artisteducator: Engaging in design, entrepreneurship and research within the landscape of the Artisteducator in practice.
2. Dance Education in Perspective: Exploring assumptions in Dance Education.
3. Shared spaces: Dance in interaction with the other and other disciplines (including an interdisciplinary project with students of fine art and theatre).
4. Dramaturgy of the Artisteducator: Dance as a medium for creating meaning.

Years 2 & 3: Main Phase

Dance Practice: From the main phase onwards, you get to shape your own learning pathway in dance.  Four times per year, you choose the dance forms in which you want to continue your development during that period. In Dance in Context in year 2, you’ll immerse yourself even more deeply in different aspects of dance history, dance analysis and reflection on dance.

Learning Practice: Each week, you’ll participate in Learning Lab, Makerslab and Community.  You’ll take classes in Dance Education Research and make your own programme for Free Space.

Artistic Practice: In the main phase, you’ll gain practical experience in various professional fields (contexts) in Artistic Practices 5-9. After that, in Artistic Practices 10-12 you can immerse yourself more deeply in a professional field you want to develop further in. The Artistic Practices of the main phase are:

5 Dance in primary education.
6 Dance in the extramural professional field.
7 Dance in society I: including dance practice.
8 Dance in society II: in interaction with the environment, including an interdisciplinary project with students of fine art and theatre.
9 Dance in secondary education.
10, 11 and 12 In-depth practical experience from doing a project, a production and more.

Year 4: Graduation and profiling: the artisteducator as entrepreneur

Your final year is all about your graduation. There is a prominent role for two Artistic Practices which are focused on you in your future professional practice. Who are you as an artisteducator? What position will you adopt in the professional field? What are you going to do and who will you focus on? How will you put your vision and ambitions as an artisteducator in dance into practice? You address these questions in Artistic Practices:

13 Positioning as an artisteducator.
14 Profile as an artisteducator.

Internships and study trips

During your course, you’ll gain practical experience in various contexts such as the extramural professional field, dance companies, secondary education, inclusion dance and community art. You can go into more depth in internships in one or multiple contexts.

In the third and fourth years, you choose your internships based on your learning goals, preparing a plan with your study and internship advisors. You can intern in the Netherlands or abroad, in both educational and extracurricular fields. Third-year students can also join the international research programme Joint Module in Sweden and Denmark, in collaboration with DOCH and Rama. "I am interested in various cultures. I completed an internship at a dance school in Cape Town and participated in the Joint Module exchange at art schools in Aarhus and Stockholm. This broadened my understanding of dance and what it can mean to people around the world."

Study guidance

Coaching is also provided as part of Learning Lab. Alongside the weekly group classes, you’ll have regular one-to-one conversations with your individual coach about your study career.

Dance & Health

The Artisteducator in Dance course and your future work as a dance professional will demand a lot of you, both physically and mentally. For this reason, we focus heavily on taking good care of your health and treating your body responsibly. Later on, you will communicate the importance of looking after yourself to your own students. After the Dance Medical Examination during the audition, you’ll take a test three times a year to determine your physical and mental condition. The test involves such things as strength, fitness, well-being and mental resilience. Based on the results, you formulate individual goals to work on. You evaluate those goals and adjust them if necessary, possibly with the help of your individual coach or the health coordinator.

The teachers encourage me to think beyond my limits, leading me to new experiences and helping me discover my interests and future goals."

Facilities

The course has various modern, spacious studios, theatres, theory rooms and a multimedia library. Students can book their own studios.

Our student Mark gives you an online tour

In the Theatrium building in Arnhem, creative energy fills every corner. Dance students fill the studios with movement, while the voices of actors and theatre makers resonate through the halls. On ‘the purple floor,’ the building’s heart, the academy comes alive. Here, students from Artisteducator in Dance, Artisteducator in Theatre, Dance Artist, and School of Acting courses gather during breaks and to discuss collaborations and projects.

• Watch the tours on YouTube!

Part of ArtEZ Academy of Theatre & Dance

The bachelor's course Artisteducator in Dance is part of ArtEZ Academy of Theatre & Dance. The ArtEZ Academies in Arnhem and Zwolle offer a space where you can discover and showcase the dancer, actor, or artisteducator within you. Here, you’ll find your unique artistic voice in today’s cultural and social context.

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