BA Contemporary Performance Practice

BA Contemporary Performance Practice

Introduction

Create the future of contemporary performance today.

If you are interested in the disciplines of performance, installation, movement, research and documentation in various forms and combinations, if you are interested in hybrid art forms which are emerging in response to the times, if you are interested in working with image, action, sound and text to create new performance works and in developing yourself as an independent artist, then this is the course for you.

Staffed by practising artists, this innovative and challenging degree places collaborative practices and interdisciplinary approaches at its heart. This broad based approach values the belief that the contemporary artist specialises in the realisation of ideas rather than the pursuit of specialism.

Graduates follow a variety of careers; they set up their own companies, work as solo artists in the live arts sector, direct or perform in devised, community or educational theatre, and work as freelance drama workers for theatre companies or community organisations. With further specialised study, graduates have also become drama teachers and drama specialists in settings such as prisons and healthcare organisations.

Year 1

In Level One you start your journey in each of the Programme strands. These are Performance, Critical and Contextual Studies, Daily Practice, Professional Practice and Technology and Documentation Practices.

The study of Performance focuses on your personal development within a group situation through research, creation, editing and composition, performance and documentation analysis. Performance classes seek to develop the practical skills you need to participate in performance making and the devising process. By the end of year one you will work on an original group performance based on an existing text in the Academy's Chandler Studio Theatre. The final performance project is the Site Specific project where a performance is specially created for a particular Glasgow location. Throughout the year you will also take classes in Music which develop your musicality in performance and composition.

In Critical and Contextual Studies you focus on developing your critical awareness in speaking and writing about performance and its processes. The ‘contextual' aspect of these studies is for you to develop an understanding of the wide variety of social and cultural contexts in which you may make work. This includes an introduction to key 20th Century discourses surrounding performance and cultural production: Postmodernism, Ideology, Structuralism, Post-Structuralism, Death of the Author, Feminisms, Orientalism, Simulation.

The performing artist needs high level performance skills including a good grounding in voice and movement practices. In year one you will start the journey towards the development of your own Daily Practice. In Daily Practice (Voice) you work on exploring the possibilities of vocal sound, in Daily Practice (Movement) you work on developing an imaginative, articulate vocabulary of movement using Lecoq and Yoga systems.

In Technology and Documentation Practices you start the exploration of documentary techniques for performance processes. In each term you will create a new ‘Chapter' in your ongoing documentation project. The first of these is a paper-based book project, this is followed by the creation of a website in term two then a ‘hyper-statement' experimental website in term three.

Year 2

At Level Two your Performance modules are designed to test the skills you learned in the first year in a range of applied contexts: Performance in Community Contexts, Performance in Educational Contexts, and Contemporary Performance. Previous projects have included working with Corali (a London based dance company of adults with learning disabilities), The Good Companions Club (a group of elderly women from Dumbarton) and a collaboration with Giant Productions (making inclusive theatre for young people of all abilities). In the third term you will explore technology and choreography in performance by creating a new ensemble piece with visiting directors and choreographers.

In Critical and Contextual Studies you cover theoretical topics to support your practical work in different performance contexts. You also have the opportunity to engage in an individual piece of research based on an aspect of the year's work.

Daily Practice at Level Two supports the work undertaken in each project in a practical way. The voice and movement specialists work alongside you to enable you to develop your performance skills within each context.

You also undertake a placement in the RSAMD's YouthWorks Drama which gives you the opportunity to work with young people in drama workshops on a Saturday morning.

In Technology and Documentation Practices you will continue to explore ways and means of representing your Performance projects including a group authored website, learning and teaching packs, manifesto writing, video and installation.

Year 3

At Level Three the emphasis is on self-generated work. There are three main focuses of activity: Performance, Professional Attachment and the Major Dissertation. For two days each week you will work on your Professional Attachment or Community Placement.

In Performance you have an opportunity to focus on how to generate text for performance and then in creating an original piece of performance. This work is supported through individual mentoring by a performance tutor.

In Critical and Contextual Studies you write a dissertation exploring an issue relevant to your own contemporary performance practice. You also have focussed classes in preparation for work in the professional field.

In the Placement you work for two days a week in a professional situation. This work is supported through individual placement visits and tutorials from your supervising RSAMD tutor. Recent placements have included Tramway, The Young Women's Project, The Scottish Refugee Council, Mischief La Bas, Buchanan Resource Centre, EK Performance, and New Moves International.

In Technology and Documentation Practices you will be engaged in three main projects: developing an experimental scoring system for your work; creating web-based documentation of a performance collaboration; developing a 45 minute lecture demonstration.

At Level Three you continue to develop your own Daily Practice with one-to-one voice classes and group movement classes in Yoga, Buffon and Capoeria.

Year 4

At Level Four you have the opportunity to specialise in one of the following areas: directing, education or performance or solo performance or you can choose modules from each area and continue to develop as a multi-disciplinary artist. Much of the work produced in this final year is shown in some of the exciting industrial spaces at Tramway, which is one of Europe's leading arts venues.

In Performance, Solo Performance and Directing you have the opportunity to undertake a professional secondment for 2 months and to develop new work with professional artists and your peers. Recent secondments have included Forced Entertainment (UK), The Builders Association (New York, USA), Station House Opera (UK), Bak Truppen (Norway), Goat Island Performance Group (Chicago, USA).

Specialising in Education involves secondment to a professional theatre company, working as an Education Officer working with your peers, and finally leading a Theatre in Prisons project in collaboration with the TIPP (Theatre in Prisons and Probation Service) Centre, Manchester.

Throughout this final year you are offered professional support and development to prepare you for your move into the professional field. You are encouraged and supported to devise appropriate strategies designed to help you into the world of work.

Technology and Documentation Practices at Level Four is focussed on the creation of your Professional Portfolio. This is a negotiated project which would normally have at least three components which may include: a website, web-based performance documentation, a professional authored DVD, a paper-based portfolio, teaching materials, an interactive CD-ROM, personal manifestos.

At Level Four you are responsible for organising your own Daily Practice and calling upon RSAMD's resident voice and movement specialists according to the needs of your projects.