Dance Knowledge, Practice and Heritage - Master's Programme

• A first degree (equivalent to 180 ECTS) or a second degree (equivalent to 120 ECTS) from a recognised higher education institution (university, college, conservatoire...) in the Humanities or Social Sciences, preferably in dance studies, anthropology, folklore, heritage studies or in related subjects such as drama and/or theatre, music, sports and human movement studies, sociology, cultural studies, or equivalent professional experience. Such candidates must some experience or knowledge of dance.
• Candidates with a strong dance background with degrees from other disciplines (for instance in Health Studies, Biomedical, Engineering or Computer Sciences) and candidates with equivalent professional experience in combination with formal learning/education may also be considered.
• Minimum average grade: C according to the ECTS grading scale or equivalent average grade/mark. In accordance with Life Long Learning Requirements, students may be admitted based on a combination of formal learning/education lower than average C on ECTS scale and approved prior learning and work experience.
• English Language Testing System (IELTS) 6.5 overall with no less than 5.5 in any band. See www.roehampton.ac.uk/International/Entry-Requirements/ for more details.
• Two letters of recommendation supporting the application.
• Expertise in or understanding of dance or related movement practices (rituals, games, martial arts, physical theatre etc.), which can be demonstrated through two of the following:
  • an online film/video clip of no more than three minutes duration, showing the candidate's own dancing, choreography or other relevant performances or productions, or teaching. The link to the video should be provided in the application.
  • an essay of no more than three pages, focusing either on the contextual and/or movement aspects of a dance or other related practice.
  • a relevant publication.

Workload in Choreomundus depends on the mobility path (see below), EACEA scholarship requirements and special regulations in each Partner institution.

Choreomundus Modules and Student Mobility 2024-2026

Semester 1 14 weeks classroom work (September-middle December), 3 weeks - individual work (middle December-early of January)

UCA

Introduction to Ethnochoreology and to the Anthropology of Dance 5 ECTS

SZTE

Ethnographic research methodology and archiving 15 ECTS

Dance, displacement, diaspora I 10 ECTS

Semester 2

NTNU

DANS3003 Dance Analysis (Intensive 2 WEEKS in January) 15 ECTS

SZTE 16 weeks classroom work (February-May) and 8 weeks individual work (June-July)

Dissertation 1: Conceptual and methodological issues for fieldwork 10 ECTS

Labanotation 5 ECTS

Semester 3

UCA 14 weeks classroom work (September-middle December), 3 weeks - individual work (middle December-early of January)

Intangible Cultural Heritage in the age of digitisation 15 ECTS

a. Critical perspectives on ICH (Intensive 4) (9 ECTS)

b. Structuring knowledge in the digital age (3 ECTS)

c. Ritual, dance and performance (3ECTS)

Anthropology of dance: concepts and methods 15 ECTS

a. Corporeal experience and its modes of transmission (3 ECTS)

b. Dissertation 2a: Ethnography and interpretation (6 ECTS)

c. Dissertation 2b: Synthesis (6 ECTS)

Semester 4 16 weeks classroom work (January-April) and 8 weeks individual work (May-June)

Roehampton University, London

Performance of Heritage 10 ECTS

People Moving, People Dancing 10 ECTS

OR

Classicism and Power 10 ECTS

OR

Dance and Music 10 ECTS

Dissertation 3: Extended essay 10 ECTS

Choreomundus has a unique quality assurance system which comprises different features and

requirements of all partner universities. NTNU administrator Maj Vester Larsen is responsible for

processing of anonymous questionaries, for example. As a joint degree, Choreomundus has perhaps

the most complicated and quality assured system for dissertation. It includes full involvement of an

external examiner, the panel of evaluation, a procedure of oral defence which in the end brings a result

that at least four professors read and assess the dissertation. Choreomundus has Joint Steering

Committee, Joint Programme Committee and Joint Exam Committee, in which all partners and student

representatives manage and monitor the quality of the programme.

Choreomundus Education Quality Assurance System (CEQAS)

European universities, including the partner universities of Choreomundus, have very different systems

and guidelines for Quality Assurance. A fully joint programme needs to work using the same strategies

and mechanisms. The administrative and academic staff working with Choreomundus have therefore

developed CEQAS, which is compatible with all partner systems and with the standards of the European

Approach for Quality Assurance of Joint Programmes approved by EHEA (ESG 1.2 - 1.10). CEQAS

contains selected components from the Education Quality Assurance Systems of each of the partner

universities. This is done to facilitate interaction with these systems, when needed, as well as the search

for solutions if problems should arise in relation to one of the systems. The programme also has an

External Examiner as an intrinsic part of CEQAS whose role is described below.

The Choreomundus partner universities are, moreover, all subject to the standards and guidelines of

their National Quality Assurance agencies (HQA Greece, HCERES France, NOKUT Norway and QAA

UK). These are all listed on EQAR’s register but do not all permit cross-border evaluation, prohibiting a

fully joint evaluation by a single EQAR registered agency. The programme will, however, be part of the

external evaluation from individual National Quality Assurance systems at regular intervals, when a

partner university is subject to national evaluation. In France, the HCERES (Haut Comit. de l’Evaluation

de la Recherche et de l’Enseignement Sup.rieur), using committees of external experts, evaluates all

programmes, research centres and supporting units in a given university every five years. The HCERES

evaluated Choreomundus in 2020-2021. The Norwegian Agency for Quality Assurance in Education

(NOKUT) recently approved NTNU’s quality assurance system. The inspections were carried out in the

autumn of 2022, and a decision was made by NOKUT's board on 20 April 2023. The University is

recognised as a self-accrediting institution functioning according to its own quality assurance system.

UK universities are subject to institutional evaluation by the Quality Assurance Agency QAA, which

carried out such a review in 2017. Hellenic Quality Assurance and Accreditation Agency (HQA) is

responsible for both quality assurance and accreditation in higher education in Greece.

Internal evaluations are also undertaken in each of the partner universities such that Choreomundus

2020-2025 has already been evaluated, leading to further national accreditation when relevant. At UCA

internal evaluation was again undertaken in July 2019. Starting from 2022 NTNU introduced a new

online quality assurance system KASPER. NTNU renewed accreditation in 2024 (2023/39647/LGR,

Decision Rector). The programme was accredited at UR on 27 June 2018 for five years by a committee

with 2 external evaluators and renewed this year.

The Consortium has not identified any significant shortcomings in the work of the CEQAS system thus

far. Various improvements to increase the quality of the programme have been made including, for

example, intensifying academic staff mobility and face-to-face supervision as well as increasing the

coherence of the structure of the master’s dissertation. Such modifications resulted from feedback at all

levels of evaluation including from the External Examiner’s reports.

CEQAS due to its compatibility with all full partner systems is currently operational and will be used for

the proposed project. As indicated above, other internal/external evaluation follows each institution’s

time frame. Programme evaluation will also be done through meetings in reference groups of students,

administrators and teachers, through the meetings of the Joint Programme Board, and through CEQAS

questionnaires (as described below). CEQAS systematically collects feedback from all students: a)

through CEQAS Student Representatives who bring comments and proposals from students to

meetings with teaching staff at each university. Measures taken are channelled back to students via the

representatives. b) through a system of CEQAS online anonymous questionnaires filled by students at

the end of each semester and when completing the Choreomundus programme. Here is an example of

the questionnaire https://www.ntnu.no/machform/view.php?id=417979.

All feedback from students on specific courses is dealt with in Choreomundus Local Staff Meetings at

the end of each semester. Improvements are discussed, local ones are implemented and proposals for

general ones are sent on to the Joint Programme Board. A written report from the meeting is produced

by the Choreomundus Local Administrator and is sent on to the Coordinating Administrator at UCA with

CEQAS Student Representatives’ reports and CEQAS Questionnaires. The Choreomundus

Administrator at UCA makes a summary of the material submitted and presents it to the Joint

Programme Board. The Joint Programme Board will be the hub in the CEQAS system. Members are the

four Choreomundus Programme Conveners; two Student Representatives, including the CEQAS

Student Representative(s); the four Choreomundus Administrators; two professionals invited/appointed

by the Joint Steering Committee from a list submitted by the Local Conveners in consultation with

Module Coordinators; the Module Coordinators within the institution where the board meeting is held.

Other members of the teaching staff can be co-opted by the board when and if necessary. The meeting

deals with reports submitted, decides on improvement measures and reports back to local level on such

measures. It reports its formal decisions to the Joint Steering Committee, which is the highest

Choreomundus body and which includes one student representative.

Choreomundus has a Joint Examination Board, which meets twice a year to validate the grades

awarded, to allow student progression and to recommend final awards. It reports to the Joint

Programme Board. It consists of the four Choreomundus Programme Conveners, the External

examiner, and the Module Coordinators for modules for which marks have been submitted and the

Module Coordinators within the institution where the Joint Examination Board meeting is held. The

results from their work are also part of the CEQAS and are used by the Joint Programme Board.

Choreomundus external examiner

In accordance with UK regulations and to ensure benchmarking, the Choreomundus EMJM will have an

External Examiner, who cannot be a member of the partner or Associated Partner universities nor

participate in the programme as visiting scholar or guest lecturer. The External Examiner serves for a

period of four years and is required to attend in person the final Joint Examination Board in a given

academic year. Selected from the academic staff of a European HEI offering studies in dance, cultural

heritage, anthropology or a related discipline at master’s level, the person is appointed by the

Choreomundus Joint Steering Committee. The role of the External Examiner is to examine a

representative sample of works produced for all the modules offered by the programme and especially

the dissertation/thesis and to comment on marking, feedback and overall assessment. The External

Examiner will submit a report after each final Examination Board. These reports are examined by the

Joint Programme Board and any recommendation is discussed by the Board in view of consolidating the

programme. Final decisions regarding changes will be made by the Joint Steering Committee.

Post-graduation monitoring

The programme constantly monitors post-graduation careers of its graduates with a view to quality

enhancement. Indeed, in 2018 a survey was undertaken collaboratively by two cohort 4 (intake 2014)

Choreomundus alumni, one employed at UCA and one at NTNU. With a 100% response from

graduates, they were able to analyse career paths and gain feedback on the programme as a whole.

Some of this data may be found on the Choreomundus website. Furthermore, the Choreomundus

Consortium closely collaborates and consults with the Choreomundus Alumni Association. Both of these

have enabled programme evaluation and more specifically assessment of aspects related to student

employability and long-term effects of the programme. In this application, for example, actual

postgraduation careers have been taken into account in order to address the job market more effectively

with the introduction of the new course on migration and a projected renovation of the

Dissertation/Thesis supervision.

Students who have successfully completed the programme will have acquired:

• A broad conceptual and theoretical framework, rooted in Ethnochoreology and the Anthropology of Dance,

allowing them to examine movement practices critically across cultural, social and historical divides;

• The analytical tools enabling them to approach complex issues systematically and creatively and to apply a

range of theories to a variety of movement practices and their contexts;

• The ability to evaluate methodologies in terms of their intellectual underpinning and appropriateness to specific

movement practices;

• The ability to integrate theory and practice when analysing movement;

• The skills to analyse movement material and structures.

They will also have acquired transferable skills in:

• Independently gathering, analysing and evaluating data and information;

• Evaluating existing research critically;

• The use of primary and secondary source materials;

• Selecting and applying creatively appropriate research methods and archival techniques;

• Effective communication of research findings and other outputs.

Choreomundus is situated at the crossroads of several academic disciplines: Ethnochoreology, the Anthropology of

Dance, Dance and Heritage Studies, Dance and Technology. Therefore Choreomundus provides:

• knowledge of dance from a cross-cultural perspective, which is one of the aims of Choreomundus;
• fundamental knowledge about ethnography and fieldwork inherited from Anthropology;
• knowledge about the formal movement analysis developed essentially from Structural Linguistics, Motion capture and Laban Movement Analysis.

Programme map and mobility of students

Year 1 - Semester 1: Introduction: all students follow induction and a short intensive course in Szeged. After a short Introduction to Ethnochoreology and the Anthropology of dance students will be introduced to the courses Dance, displacement, diaspora and Ethnographic Research Methodology and Archiving. Moreover, these introductory courses to fieldwork will be given to prepare them for individual research in the summer before year two.

Year 1 - Semester 2: By the beginning of the second semester students will come to Trondheim and will take an intensive Dance analysis course. For the rest of then semester students will stay in Szeged and will prepare Dissertation 1: Conceptual and methodological issues for fieldwork and will study Labanotation.

Year 2 - Semester 1: In the second academic year, all students go to UCA Clermont-Ferrand for their third semester of the study. The focus here will be on critical issues related to Intangible Cultural Heritage, safeguarding, archiving and digitisation. During this second year of study the focus shifts from an ethnochoreological to an anthropological perspective, in which a reflexive approach is applied to the analysis of ethnographic and other material collected during the intership/fieldwork.

Year 2 - Semester 2: The semester will start from Performance of Heritage course at Roehampton University and one of the lective courses. Students will finalise the process of writing up their Master's dissertation/thesis, which they shall submit by the end of the academic year.

Development and structure: Semester Breakdown

Semester 1

UCA

Introduction to Ethnochoreology and to the Anthropology of Dance 5 ECTS

SZTE

Ethnographic research methodology and archiving 15 ECTS

Dance, displacement, diaspora I 10 ECTS

Semester 2

NTNU

DANS3003 Dance Analysis (Intensive 2 WEEKS) 15 ECTS

SZTE

Dissertation 1: Conceptual and methodological issues for fieldwork 10 ECTS

Labanotation 5 ECTS

Semester 3

UCA

Intangible Cultural Heritage in the age of digitisation 15 ECTS

a. Critical perspectives on ICH (Intensive 4) (9 ECTS)

b. Structuring knowledge in the digital age (3 ECTS)

c. Ritual, dance and performance (3ECTS)

Anthropology of dance: concepts and methods 15 ECTS

a. Corporeal experience and its modes of transmission (3 ECTS)

b. Dissertation 2a: Ethnography and interpretation (6 ECTS)

c. Dissertation 2b: Synthesis (6 ECTS)

Semester 4

Roehampton University, London

Performance of Heritage 10 ECTS

People Moving, People Dancing 10 ECTS

OR

Classicism and Power 10 ECTS

OR

Dance and Music 10 ECTS

Dissertation 3: Extended essay 10 ECTS

Choreomundus - International Master in Dance Knowledge, Practice and Heritage, established in 2012 and having recruited over 250 students from 80 countries, is a 2-year fully joint programme taught principally in English and run by a Consortium of 4 Partner Universites internationally recognised for their leadership in the development of innovative curricula for the analysis of dance and other movement practices: University of Clermont Auvergne (UCA), Clermont-Ferrand, France; Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU), Trondheim, Norway; University of Szeged (SZTE), Hungary; University of Roehampton, London (URL), United Kingdom.

Choreomundus encourages students to become enterprising individuals in that, at the heart of the

programme, is a fieldwork project leading to independent research. The EMJM therefore requires them

to be able to plan and implement research on their own, developing organisational and entrepreneurial

skills, and to apply state-of-the-art technology in gathering, processing and presenting data to

professional and wider audiences once they return from the field and learn how to archive the material

collected. Graduates will therefore be able to optimally use available professional opportunities in a

proactive way, having experienced it throughout their studies. Indeed, throughout the programme there

is a strong emphasis on students acquiring transferable skills necessary to prepare them for life-long

learning as well as to improve their creativity and problem-solving abilities. These are applied in the final

semester during which they must undertake to develop entrepreneurship through an autonomous

professionalising project monitored by UR staff member, Ann David, Emeritus Professor of Dance and

Cultural Engagement. A few years ago, for example, a cohort 6 student has been taken onboard by

Akademi South Asian Dance UK after the professionalising internship. Several graduates from cohort 7

onwards are engaged in socially inclusive projects in London such Springboard Youth Academy.

Close contact with the Associated Partners will be intensified to further facilitate the internships/fieldwork

projects which they offer and to incorporate their views in future course design and implementation via

the Joint Programme Board. These and other interested parties including potential employers will have

the opportunity to assess and monitor the curriculum and make suggestions about change not only

through this Joint Board but also through UCA’s Conseil de perfectionnement as well as the internal

Boards in partner universities. Feedback from former meetings of UCA’s Conseil indicated that

transversal skills intrinsic to the programme such as autonomy, problem-solving, adaptability, creativity,

and teamworking are more important than job-specific skills. Moreover, in France HEI programmes

including masters are catalogued in a national repertory of professional certification (RNCP), an online

database of individual files for each nationally recognised programme. See

https://certificationprofessionnelle.fr/recherche/rncp/34273 for the French national master’s title of which

Choreomundus is a part.

The skills provided by the Programme will also be of use to all students who wish to pursue doctoral

studies in view of a career in academia and Choreomundus graduates have completed or are pursuing

doctoral studies at the University of Coimbra, Portugal; the University of California, Los Angeles, USA;

the University of California at Riverside, Riverside, USA; Temple University, USA; Northwestern

University, USA; Arkansas State University, Jonesboro, USA ; the University of Ankara, Turkey; at

Edinburgh University, Scotland; Memorial University of Newfoundland, Canada; the University of

Toronto, Canada; and more are in the process of applying. A cohort 1 student has recently been

appointed as Associate Professor at NTNU and others are Assistant Professors in the Philippines.

Part of the learning outcomes of Choreomundus is an ability to reflect on, evaluate and respond to the

relationship between academic study, professional experience, and creative teamwork. All are

transferable skills crucial to a successful career in one of the cultural or tourist industries after

graduation. Students graduating directly from Choreomundus will be prepared for the following

positions: cultural officer/coordinator in a regional or national arts council or similar government body

concerned with dance and/or Intangible Cultural Heritage or in the many associations promoting

regional cultures; research officer in an institute, museum or arts council (regional and national) or other

such body; archivist in any of the former institutions or one devoted uniquely to archiving; dance festival

organiser or director. Further positions exist in the educational sector, for example in schools at primary

or secondary level and in teachers’ training colleges, which integrate traditional/folk dancing as an

autonomous subject of study.