MA Diasporic Dance Styles
CREATING DANCERS FOR THE GLOBAL COMMUNITY
MA Diasporic Dance Styles
Deep roots, wide lens, bold moves
The programme is aimed at a dance artist-practitioners working across a diverse range of dance styles within formal and informal contexts and internationally.
The programme is not limited to any style or context of dance and particularly invites students working in non-western dance forms, beyond formal education or professional settings, and students whose practice sits within African and Caribbean diasporic traditions to engage with study and practice-research through this programme.
This market is currently under served at MA level. There is evidence of market interest in this kind of flexible, diverse provision through the contacts of IRIE! with dancers, choreographers, teachers, IRIE! graduates, that are living and working internationally but limited in professional development and career progression.
Our MA Diasporic Dance Styles is a unique distance education/low residency provision delivered by IRIE! dance theatres. Building on the success of the BA (Hons) Diverse Dance Styles (established 2018), this Post Graduate provision offers dance artists the opportunity to expand their practice through independently focused research within a supportive virtual and residency-based learning environment.
The MA is designed to facilitate learning through frameworks of reflective practice, critical thinking and emergent global strategies for dance-arts making and producing. The programme utilizes critical digital dialogic pedagogies through a vibrant Virtual Learning Environment (VLE), as well as fostering a community of practice in-person through intensive residencies at IRIE! Dance Theatre. The programme spans and encourages practitioners working within a diverse range of dance styles and contexts and particularly aims to attract artists working in non-Western diasporic traditions, an area currently under-represented in PG provision.
The rationale for the development of this programme lies within the success of IRIE’s BA (hons) Diverse Dance Styles and the current gap in the field for further study for these graduates, alongside a recognition of the value and contribution of dance artists working within diverse dance styles and contexts globally and the need in today’s higher education and cultural policy landscape to ensure provision for access and opportunity through formal pathways. The MA programme aims to nurture and support dance artists to reach their full potential as makers, performers, pedagogues, and policy change advocates for dance in the 21st century and beyond.
1. Nourish and enhance students existing professional practice with reference to the wider dance industry
2. Promote personal/professional growth through the articulation of prior learning experiences developing frameworks and strategies for students’ further contribution to their community of practice.
3. Nurture processes of reflection and critical thinking as catalysts for professional development, transformation, change, and contribution to social, cultural and political dance ecologies
4. Establish competence with Research Practice techniques centering practice as research.
5. Interrogate ethics within students’ own practice and in relation to wider professional dance contexts
6. Foster a rich community of international dance practitioners using critical digital pedagogies of engagement and dialogic learning
-Enhanced engagement with dance cultures, ecologies, transformation and change within the arts sector
-Wider international recognition of professional practice, leading to career development and progression
-Access to further study at PhD, DProf level
-Access to higher level teaching opportunities and contracts
-Increased access to funding opportunities and the ability to travel for further research and work engagements
-Contribution to scholarship, arts policy and change
Professional Practice and Lifelong Learning: Position, Passion, Progress. (60 credits)* Critical reflection, evaluation and articulation of prior learning experiences within professional contexts in diverse dance styles. Establishing individual professional practice within a wider dance-arts landscape. Reflexive learning through practice and theory with recognition of communities of practice and artists contribution to global dance cultures. Theoretical Framework: Reflective Practice and Learning Theories. *Students will be able to submit a portfolio of reflection on prior experiential learning via presentation / essay to the value of 60 credits. Up to 60 credits (values of 20/40/60) can be gained through prior professional training with recognised partners. Practice, Research and Meaning-Making: Diasporic Dance Cultures in Action. (inc. week-long residency intensive in January) (30 credits) Introduction to research methodologies, methods and ethics. Construction of frameworks for research design, planning and articulation of a proposal for research practice. Theoretical Framework: Critical thinking, Dance within Politics, Cultural Studies. Independent practice-based research project: cultivating questions through inquiry. (30 credits) Independent Research Practice Project. Undertaking of independent research practice, critical evaluation. Theoretical Framework: Qualitative Research, Embodiment, Ethics. Artistic Practice within Diasporic Dance styles: Collaboration, Currency, Community. (inc. two-week-long residency intensive in July) (60 credits) Critical evaluation of research and position in the field, planning connections in the dance field and on-going career and professional development, analysis and dissemination of work. Theoretical Framework: Devised by the student, aligned with their practice.
Module One – Sept-Dec (12 weeks) Submission of work Dec. Module Two –Jan-Feb (6 weeks) Submission of work Feb – in Jan residency Module Three – March-April (6 weeks) Submission of work April Module Four – May- August (12 weeks) Submission of work August- inc July residency
Year 1 - Module One – Sept-Dec (12 weeks) Submission of work Dec Module Two – *March-April (6 weeks) Submission of work July - *inc Jan Residency Year 2 – Module Three – Sept -Nov (6 weeks) Submission of work Dec Module Four – May-July (12 weeks) Submission of work Sept - inc July residency
Exit awards are available for those exiting study before completion of the full 180 credit MA: Exit with 60 credits = PGCert (Diasporic Dance Styles) Exit with 120 credits = PG Diploma (Diasporic Dance Styles) The programme is delivered by IRIE dance theatre and operates with the assessment regulations, in accordance with the validating partner institution.
IRIE! dance theatre is pleased to announce that applications are now open for a new MA Diasporic Dance Styles validated by Goldsmiths, University of London. The course started in September 2024. The MA Diasporic Dance Styles is a unique low residency programme of blended online and on-campus learning and is designed for practitioners working within a diverse range of dance styles and contexts.
The MA builds on the success of the BA (Hons) Diverse Dance Styles created in 2018 and established as a collaborative partnership with Goldsmiths, since September 2023.
The inclusion of the MA will create a strong global, community of graduates and artists who although at different stages of their career will be encouraged to shape, share and define their practice.
Goldsmiths is a perfect partner for the company. The university has a history of activism, innovative courses, and positive engagement, reflecting the issues of the local community and the Borough of Lewisham as a whole. IRIE! is situated within close proximity to Goldsmiths, New Cross campus.
Rosie Lehan, Director of Accredited Training for IRIE! dance theatre says, “We believe that the continued partnership with Goldsmiths will enable IRIE! to elevate the company’s work on the promotion and visibility of African and Caribbean dance and culture within HE, thus providing a broader local, national, and international platform for the work.”
Beverley Glean MBE, Founder and Artistic Director of IRIE! dance theatre says ‘This partnership has come at an important transitional point in the growth of the organisation. The validation of the MA will provide more opportunities and a solid foundation for the practice of African and Caribbean dance and culture, including discourse, engagement and greater understanding.”
The partnership with Goldsmiths is part of a period of change for IRIE! as the company became an NPO client of the Arts Council in April 2023. Watch this space for details of the new IRIE! dance theatre company tour in 2026.
Applications for the MA are now open, for more information and to apply please email:
Established in 1985, IRIE! dance theatre is Britain's leading dance company working in the field of African and Caribbean dance fusion and education. IRIE! received an Arts Council England NPO funding 2023-2027 https://www.iriedancetheatre.org/post/irie-dance-theatre-receives-national-portfolio-organisation-arts-council-englandfunding www.iriedancetheatre.org
About Goldsmiths, University of London
Founded in 1891, Goldsmiths, University of London is an institution with a rich academic history, known for its creative approach. Its 10,000 students are based on campus in the heart of south east London's New Cross community, studying undergraduate, postgraduate, teacher training and return-to-study
courses in the arts and humanities, social sciences, cultural studies, law, computing, entrepreneurial business and management.
Goldsmiths research shapes the future, changes lives and is at the forefront of creative practice, with nearly four-fifths of research rated world-leading or internationally excellent by the 2021 Research Excellence Framework.
Seven winners of the Turner Prize – and around a quarter of those shortlisted for the award since it began – have been former Goldsmiths students, while others have gone on to receive Oscars, Mercury Music prizes, Ivor Novellos and BAFTAS.
Programme Title: MA DIASPORIC DANCE STYLES
Mode of Study: Distance Education / Low Residency
Length of Study: 1 year full time / 2 years part-time
The MA Diasporic Dance Styles is a unique distance education/low residency provision within IRIE! Dance Theatre’s Education Department. This Post Graduate provision offers dance artists the opportunity to expand their practice through independently focused research within a supportive learning environment.
The programme utilises critical digital dialogic pedagogies through a vibrant Virtual Learning Environment (VLE), as well as fostering a community of practice in-person through intensive residencies at IRIE! dance Theatre. The programme spans and encourages practitioners working within a diverse range of dance styles and contexts and
particularly aims to attract artists working in African and Caribbean diasporic traditions.