module specification

This is a semester-long module for Level 5 students, which aims to provide practical, theoretical and contextual understanding of choreographed theatre and performance work. In studio-based seminar workshops students will engage with a range of theatre and dance movement-based approaches and applications for choreographing performance related to professional environments and their own ideas.

Students will work towards the creating their own choreography that will be directed into a public presentation by the module leader.  Critical appraisal and analysis of this performance experiment will be performed on an ongoing basis through tasks and discussions.

This module introduces students to a range of physical and choreographic approaches and methodologies to creating performance work. They will gain knowledge of some of the significant choreographic strategies used by contemporary companies and artists who successfully choreograph movement-based performance work. Students will gain understanding and experience in effectively planning, leading, staging and performing a piece of choreographed performance work and collaborate with tutors, peers and a performance space in the creation and presentation of a choreographed performance event.

Pass and completion (120 credits) of previous level

This module will consider the development of choreographed physical theatre performance through selection, editing and rehearsal of movement material through to polished performance. (LOs 1 and 2).

Through practice and research students will approach choreography from a number of perspectives and contextual styles relating to professional arenas such as: social and/ or historical dances; working from a musical or narrative score; movement direction; movement choirs; body as text, etc.. This work will draw on techniques, documentations and theories of key artists, theorists and companies and through practical tutor-directed explorations. (LOs 3 and 4).

Learning Outcomes LO 1 - 4

In this module students will apply strategic practice-based choreographic physical performance skills.  Assessment strategies will take into account the student’s ability to work independently and as part of a team. Continuous assessment is used to provide students with feedback on their choreographic work and will be provided following initial showing of their choreography in performance contributing to new perspectives for development. Tutorials and feedback will contribute to students’ development of a variety of assigned tasks.

Scheduled teaching ensures that independent study is effective and addresses the learning outcomes and assessment tasks. Students are expected to, and have the opportunity to, continue with their studies outside of scheduled classes. There will be a range of learning strategies deployed and individual learning styles will be accommodated. The module’s learning outcomes, its contents and delivery, have been scrutinised and will be regularly reviewed to ensure an inclusive approach to pedagogic practice. 
The module and course utilise the University’s blended learning platform to support and reinforce learning, to foster peer-to-peer communication and to facilitate tutorial support for students. Reflective learning is promoted through assessment items and interim formative feedback points that ask students to reflect on their progress, seek help where they identify the opportunity for improvement in learning strategies and outcomes, and make recommendations to themselves for future development. Throughout the module, students build a body of work, including reflections on progress and achievement. 
The School’s programme of employability events and embedded work-related learning within the curriculum supports students’ personal development planning. Through these initiatives, students are increasingly able, as they progress from year to year, to understand the professional environment of their disciplines, the various opportunities available to them, and how to shape their learning according to their ambitions.

By the end of the module, students will be able to:

LO 1 demonstrate an understanding of methods and strategies used in developing choreographed physical theatre and performance from concepts, research and practical experiment;

LO2 apply knowledge and understanding of some contemporary practitioners and their working methods in the context of creating physical-based theatre performance;

LO 3 experience working independently and collaboratively in planning, creating, staging and performing as part of a staged choreographed event;

LO 4 evidence an increased ability to work with motivation to develop performance, communication and critical skills, building on past knowledge and experience to further reflective practice.

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Bogart, A. and Landau, T. (2014) The viewpoints book, Nick Hern Books
Karen, K. (2009) Rudolph Laban, Routledge
Butcher, R. & Melrose, S. (2005): Rosemary Butcher: choreography, collisions and collaborations London, Middlesex University Press
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Chatterjea, A. (2004) Butting out: Reading Resistive Choreographies through Works by Jawole Willa Jo Zollar and Chandralekha, Wesleyan University Press
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Ewan, V. & Green, D. (2014) Actor Movement: Expression of the Physical Being, Methuen
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Lepecki, A. (2006) Exhausting dance: performance and the politics of movement, Routledge
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