CHOREOGRAPHY 2 - 2019/0

Module Overview

Following the completion of Choreography I, and acquiring basic principles and approaches to contemporary dance choreographic practice, this module builds on that foundational knowledge through a series of guided workshops, practical sessions, and labs to review and practice intermediate to advanced methods of devising, creating and approaching choreography and current thinking of choreographic practices. The module includes in-class and/or online tasks to engage with further development of choreographic style and voice. The module also includes facilitated showing and feedback sessions on students’ independently led practice-based choreographic projects, whereby students develop, manage and devise their works. Intermediate to advanced principles of choreographic composition, including site-specific choreography, and creating a choreographic piece at the completion of the module increase students’ abilities as reflective practitioners and in the exponents of contemporary dance and choreographic thinking.

Module provider

Guildford School of Acting

Module Leader

BIRCH Rachel (GSA)

Number of Credits: 30

ECTS Credits: 15

Framework: FHEQ Level 5

Module cap (Maximum number of students): N/A

Module Availability

Year long

Prerequisites / Co-requisites

Choreography I

Module content

Indicative content includes:

• Choreographic Scores


• Digital platforms


• Choreographic objects


• Site-Specific


• Dance Theatre


• Dramaturgy


• Body as Archive


• Narrative and Form


• Reconstruction

Assessment pattern

Alternative Assessment

N/A

Assessment Strategy

The assessment strategy is designed to provide students with the opportunity to demonstrate

• independent leadership of a choreographic process and demonstrate their development as a reflective practitioner, which is important to current choreographic practice and the overall aim of the programme. This allows assessment of the integration of theory and practice and parts of the choreographic process, which might not be evident in the group work on its own.

• Continuous Assessment (50%): Based on participation in class sessions and demonstration of intermediate to advanced progress in the development of creative and choreographic skills. This is evidenced through in-class and/or online tasks assigned across the term in which the student demonstrates reflective understanding of own engagement and progress, including peer assessment and feedback. Format determined by module convener


• Choreographic Work (50%): Students will show a final piece in an assessed showing set up by the module convener at the end of the module

• In-class discussion of tasks, movement studies (e.g. trio), and online material will provide opportunity for convener and peer group feedback


• Tutorials will allow students to show work, discuss their choreographic works in-process, and get feedback before the summative assessment

• See above for each assessment point

Module aims

• Facilitate focused and increased independence of engagement, exploration, and development of concepts and compositional principles of choreography, especially in making a final piece of group work
• Contextualise choreographic process and performance in relation to critical contemporary dance discourses and practices
• Develop autonomy and skills in applying different tools, methods and processes of developing, documenting, directing and presenting a creative embodied-based piece and process

Learning outcomes

Methods of Teaching / Learning

The learning and teaching strategy is designed to:

• facilitate professional development of skills in choreographic form, reflective documentation, and choreographic practice in a broad sense


• increase student knowledge of choreographic practices and begin to integrate the choreographic aesthetics of the contemporary dance genre with their own work


• independently apply a diverse set of professional tools for choreographic process and creation

• Practical/lab studio sessions


• Group and/or one-to-one tutorials


• Weekly assigned readings and viewings (guided and independent)


• Weekly assigned independent study and choreographic tasks

Indicated Lecture Hours (which may also include seminars, tutorials, workshops and other contact time) are approximate and may include in-class tests where one or more of these are an assessment on the module. In-class tests are scheduled/organised separately to taught content and will be published on to student personal timetables, where they apply to taken modules, as soon as they are finalised by central administration. This will usually be after the initial publication of the teaching timetable for the relevant semester.

Reading list

https://readinglists.surrey.ac.uk
Upon accessing the reading list, please search for the module using the module code: DAN2039

Other information

Under the three term structure that commences from academic year 2019/0 – this module’s delivery is year-long due to the teaching occurring in Teaching Blocks 1, 2 and 3.

Programmes this module appears in

Please note that the information detailed within this record is accurate at the time of publishing and may be subject to change. This record contains information for the most up to date version of the programme / module for the 2019/0 academic year.