The Bachelor of Fine Arts (Dance) builds on the Victorian College of the Arts’ outstanding reputation for performance-focused dance education.

The course develops kinetically strong, culturally and conceptually aware dance artists through specialist education in an inclusive range of contemporary dance practices, dance science and somatics, critical dance studies, choreography and performance.

In a vibrant and stimulating atmosphere, you will train to meet the technical demands, kinaesthetic awareness and creative challenges of a career in dance. New works by professional Australian and international choreographers and repertory studies provide invaluable performance experience and interaction with the dance profession.

There is some flexibility within the degree, allowing you to choose elective subjects in dance or from other artistic disciplines at the VCA. You can also complete electives from outside of the VCA’s offerings, to prepare you for other pathways, such as teaching.

Breadth subjects at each year level enable you to explore cross disciplinary studies from the wider University community, accessing multi-disciplinary knowledge and skills that will build on existing knowledge or present opportunities for you to investigate and develop new interests.

You will have access to state-of-the art facilities, including five purpose-built dance studios and a range of on-campus theatre and performance spaces.

Future pathways

Upon completion of the course, you may choose to apply for a fourth-year Honours degree. An honours year provides an intensive mode of study allowing you to master your specialisation and create a pathway into advanced graduate study options in dance.

Honours is available for this course

The Bachelor of Fine Arts (Dance) is a three-year full-time degree centred around studio practice, expanded dance thinking and performance. Throughout the course you will develop an integrated practice as a dance artist. Expertise in dance as a way of knowing opens doorways for careers as performers, makers, leaders, activists, collaborators and cultural partners in a global world.

The program focuses on the rigorous preparation of dancers as artists and cultural leaders working across all areas of the profession including performance, community, arts management, health and wellbeing sectors. It recognises that contemporary dance takes many forms and flourishes in diverse contexts, so it prepares you through an emphasis upon dance within an arts ecosystem. The course structure also equips you with the professional skills for ensemble and autonomous careers in dance.

The course matrix emphasises the following core graduate capabilities: Practice; Make; Interact; Perform; Connect; and Reflect. These competencies are developed throughout the degree towards a graduate profile that is industry-ready whilst equipping you with skills for life-long learning and creative resilience. The learning of dance as an arts practice is a core component in the preparation of a professional dancer, and knowledge of diverse movement techniques and the concepts that underpin them, is considered essential to flexibly adapt to different choreographic ideas and opportunities.

Coordination, movement memory and performance qualities (expressiveness and focus), are fostered through embodied learning, open enquiry and exchange within a cohort experience of dancing together. Intensive skills development and practice take place alongside workshop and rehearsal processes for a range of performance situations. You will gain experience and know-how in performing for stage, art gallery and museum, gardens and outdoor sites, screen and digital spaces.

Deepening your artistic knowledge through acquiring mastery and craft, you will energetically engage with the creation of dance in both a local and international context. During the degree you will have the opportunity for placements with local Melbourne dance organisations and to participate in a Global Atelier, a travelling studio programme through which students learn from leaders in the dance field and cultivate arts citizenship. Such collaborative skills and intercultural competencies are integral to your training.

Your breadth studies

As part of your course at each year level, you can select breadth subjects either from our VCA elective subjects, or explore cross disciplinary studies from the wider University community, accessing multi-disciplinary knowledge and skills that will build on existing knowledge or present opportunities for you to investigate and develop new interests.

The breadth subjects available to commencing BFA students include those in fine arts (acting, animation, dance, production, film and television, music theatre, screenwriting, theatre and visual art), as well as music education, Indigenous knowledges, law, languages, psychology, social sciences, humanities, science, marketing and many more.

More about the University’s breadth subjects

Sample course plan

View some sample course plans to help you select subjects that will meet the requirements for this bachelor.

300-point program

3 years full-time

In 2019, the University of Melbourne gave 30 students and alumni their first commission, to celebrate the power of artistic minds and the launch of our redeveloped Southbank campus. Here, alum Jack Riley (Bachelor of Fine Arts (Dance), 2016) talks about the making of his work Duplex.

Careers

As a graduate, you will have developed your skills and expertise to work independently (or in an ensemble), in a wide range of careers in Australia and internationally. Our graduates have diverse careers as:

• Dancers
• Artistic directors
• Dance teachers
• Choreographers
• Community dance artists
• Contemporary dance teachers
• Dance researchers
• Dance scientists
• Dance writers/ critics
• Dance academics

Industry partnerships

As a student, you will have the opportunity to connect with a range of people through our industry partnerships, including:

• Lucy Guerin Inc
• Stephanie Lake Dance Company
• Chunky Move
• Sangam Performing Arts Festival of South Asia and Diaspora
• ImPulsTanz Vienna International Dance Festival

Completed secondary education recently (within the past two years); Completed some or all of a higher education qualification; Completed some or all of a VET qualification; Applicants with wo

TOEFL Internet-based test: total score of at least 79 and scores of 21 for writing, 18 for speaking, 13 for reading and 13 for listening; IELTS: total score of at least 6.5 in the Academic International English Language Testing System (IELTS), with no bands less than 6.0; Pearson Test of English Academic : overall score of at least 58 and no PTE communicative skills score below 50; Cambridge English, Advanced/Certificate in Advanced English (CAE): Cambridge English Score of at least 176 with no skill below 169; C2 Proficiency (previously called Cambridge English: Proficiency (CPE) examination): Cambridge English Score of at least 180 with no skill below 180.