Experimental Choreography

UC Riverside's Master of Fine Arts in Experimental Choreography offers emerging and established artists a site for rigorous investigation in dance making, performance, and physical practice. Students in the MFA program, typically six quarters long, engage in a series of core choreography courses and select critical dance studies seminars, and fulfill the degree through design and direction of a choreographic project unique to their cumulative research. MFA students are equally enriched by the professional relationships they develop with our undergraduate population through teaching, directing, producing, and community engagement.

UCR’s MFA program is unique for the close relationship it maintains with the Dance Department's PhD in Critical Dance Studies, one of the preeminent programs for intellectual inquiry in the field of cultural, political, and historical studies of dance. Cooperation between these two programs, both conceptually and through intersecting curricula, contributes to the department’s embrace of dance making and scholarship as complementary modes of investigation.

Riverside, CA is an integral part of a dynamic constellation of landscapes including the high desert, the San Gorgonio Mountains, Los Angeles, and the US-Mexico border. UC Riverside is a place for our MFA students to participate artistically and intellectually in a generative environment of diverse economies and cultural perspectives. Several venues on and off campus, including our performance lab and the Culver Center of the Arts downtown, are available to foster this exchange.

Students must complete 40 units of course work (10 courses) and 12-14 units of independent research for a final project.  Students’ total number of units of graduate and upper division undergraduate courses must equal at least 54.

The core curriculum, normally to be completed in the first two years of residency, shall comprise the following 16 units:

• Dance 240: Improvising Choreography: Scores, Structures, and Strategies (4 units)
• Dance 241: Creating the Experiment: Identifying the New (4 units)
• Dance 242: Dancing Representation: Figures, Forms, and Frames (4 units)
• Dance 243: Collaborating in Dance Making: Material, Methods, and Interactions (4 units)

Students must also take 4 units in each of the following:

• Dance 180R (Dance Practicum: Pedagogy)
• Dance 239 (Introduction to Graduate Study of Dance)
• Dance 244 (Special Topics in Dance Making)

In addition, students must complete 8 units from the following critical dance studies courses:

• Dance 254: Political Approaches to Dance Studies (4 units)
• Dance 255: Historical Approaches to Dance Studies (4 units)
• Dance 257: Rhetorical Approaches to Dance Studies (4 units)
• Dance 258: Cultural Approaches to Dance Studies (4 units)

Students must also take Dance 301 (which does not count toward the total 54 units required for the degree) plus 4-6 graduate-level units of electives either within or outside the Dance Department. These units should be taken for a letter grade and can include, but are not limited to: any of the core PhD courses (Dance 254-258) not previously taken; a Dance 200-level seminar course in history and theory; Dance 280 (the Colloquium); the bundling of an upper-division undergraduate-level course with 2 units of 292 (Concurrent Analysis).

An additional 12-14 units are taken through Dance 297 or Dance 299 for work on phases of the final project. During the second year, students form a committee consisting of three faculty members, one of whom may be outside the department. The committee approves the project proposal and supervises the final project. The student's progress through the program culminates in the final project, which reflects a serious investigation of a specific choreographic problem. 

Final Project

During the second year, the student writes a 5-15 page proposal for the final project to be approved by the committee.

The final project could take the form of a concert of dances or some other performance event in which the student's research is made evident. Because of the experimental nature of the program, it is difficult to specify the exact form the project may take. For example, students may 1) undertake to create site-specific dances occurring in different locales over several months, 2) organize opportunities for interactive choreography with distinct groups of performers, or 3) choreograph a dance to be viewed on CD-ROM. Whatever the final form, the project must demonstrate a thorough investigation and committed execution of a defined aesthetic concern. The final project includes a written requirement to be completed within one quarter following the performance event. This document, 20-40 pages long, outlines the aesthetic focus of the student's research and provides a historical and philosophical contextualization for the project.

Requirements

• Applicants to the MFA in Experimental Choreography must demonstrate significant professional experience as an active choreographer making and producing work, and must have a B.A. or a B.F.A. degree from an accredited institution. Scores on the GRE are not required, although it is recommended that applicants take the GRE if their GPA is below a 3.0.  A video sample of choreography is required. This should be provided via a stable online link and hosted by Vimeo, YouTube or any media player compatible with both Mac and PC computer playback, with credits (75 words max) imbedded in the info field of the online video, if possible, or submitted as an electronic document with other application materials. Samples should be what best represents the applicant’s choreographic practice and should ideally include at least one full-length work. 
• The nonrefundable $100.00 application fee ($125.00 for M.B.A./M.P.Ac./M.Fin./Flex M.B.A. applicants only) must be paid by credit card (VISA, MasterCard, or Discover) prior to submission of your application.
• Applicants are required to submit an official copy of transcripts and degree certificates (in original language accompanied by certified English translations) from each academic institution attended after secondary school. These records should be sent directly from the Registrars Office of the academic institutions you have attended to the academic department to which you are applying. If this service is not available, applicants may also request official copies and send them in the institutions' original sealed and certified institution envelopes. Official records are original documents issued by the institution which bear the actual signature of the registrar in ink and the original wet ink stamp/seal of the issuing institution. The institution envelope must also bear that institution's appropriate authenticity indicator (original wet ink stamp and/or signature, etc.) from the appropriate department at that institution to consider the provided certified transcripts and degree certificates provided by the institution as official. Notarized documents are not acceptable. Credential evaluations by WES (World Education Services) or similar credential evaluation services are also not acceptable.
• Statement of Purpose/Personal History Statement
• Graduate programs require three (3) letters of recommendation. Applicants will be able to enter their recommenders' information directly into their electronic application. Recommenders will be notified electronically and provided instructions on how to submit a letter online. All letters of recommendation must be received electronically so they are attached to the applicants file for review.
• The GRE general test is required of all applicants with the exceptions noted below. Some programs also require applicants submit scores from the Subject Test of the GRE. Consult the program to which you are applying for its requirements. Although current scores are preferred, some graduate programs will accept scores from tests taken within the last five years. 
• All applicants whose first language is not English and who have not earned an advanced degree at an institution where English is the exclusive language of instruction must submit scores from the Test of English as a Foreign Language (TOEFL). This exam is administered by the Educational Testing Service and offered in nearly every country abroad. This exam must be taken within two years of the time you intend to enroll at UCR. The minimum acceptable scores are: 550 for the written exam; 213 for the computer-based exam, and 80 for the internet-based exam (iBT). We strongly advise you to be aware of the deadline for the program to which you are applying. Dates and information for TOEFL may be obtained by contacting the Educational Testing Service (ETS) at the address below, by calling 1-877-863-3546, or by consulting the TOEFL Web site. Fellowship applicants should take the exam in time to meet the program deadline. Keep in mind that it may take up to two weeks for test scores to reach us from ETS.
• Beginning with the Fall 2011 application cycle, UCR will accept scores from the Academic Modules of the International English Language Testing System IELTS) which is jointly managed by the British Council, IDP:IELTS Australia and the University of Cambridge ESOL Examinations. The exam must be taken within two years of the time you intend to enroll at UCR. The minimum acceptable scores are: overall band score of 7 with no individual section score less than 6. Please request an official Test Report Form (TRF) of your IELTS. 

To provide the demonstration of analytical and interpretive skills required by the application process, applicants may submit a statement of background about experience in dance history and theory, or a previously prepared research paper, or the equivalent.

Prerequisites include:

• A working knowledge of movement;
• An acquaintance with some system of movement observation and analysis; and
• Preparation in general historical and cultural studies.

For students needing additional work in dance analysis, or in historical or cultural studies, classes in these subjects are available at UC Riverside that may be taken during the course of graduate study.

GRE scores are required and must be submitted by January as part of the application process.

Scholarships

• Fellowships
• Teaching and Research Assistantships