Dance (MFA)

Theorizing and Practicing Knowledge Production in Relation to Citizenship and Art-Making

This mentor-based program expands from a leadership faculty supported by an international group of scholars, artists, curators, writers and community members located throughout the United States and abroad. Experts from across the fields of dance, live and visual arts and social justice gather to work within the MFA curricular platforms. These affiliated artists and guest lecturers represent an intentionally diverse array of approaches to theorizing and practicing knowledge production in relation to citizenship and art-making.

Offering Distinct Curricula

For both emerging & mid-career artists

Philadelphia Residency Structure

MFA Dance
(For emerging artists)
60 credits, 15 months

Designed for young artists with a strong interest in expanding their practice and research in an experimental and uninterrupted way. Applicants should hold 3-5 years of experience beyond an undergraduate degree in dance.

Summer Term in Residence; Fall & Spring Terms in Philly
Philadelphia residency students complete intensive fall and spring terms at UArts, in the center of Philadelphia. Faculty, mentors and visiting artists support students as they develop practices, pedagogies and modes of research within the context of Philadelphia and beyond.

Low-Residency Structure

60 credits, 15 months, low-res format

Designed for midcareer artists, teachers and dance professionals who want to question their own work and re-evaluate their career trajectories. Applicants typically hold eight to 10 years or more of experience as creative practitioners in their field.

Summer Term in Residence; Fall & Spring Terms in Your Context

Coursework is completed through self-directed research of situated pedagogical practices. Each student is supported by mentors and their fellow peers, as well as the use of distance-learning tools to facilitate the delivery of coursework.

Flex Structure

For artists in need of more flexibility

On a case-by-case basis, Flex Structure, which extends the duration of study from 15 to 22 months, may be available to qualified Philadelphia or Low-Residency candidates. 

With Post-MFA Support

Once students graduate from the program, the Post-MFA structure emerges as a resource to develop new formations for exchange that may include study groups, practice residencies, fellowships and research platforms.

Contact dance@uarts.edu to learn more. 

Leadership, Faculty & Mentors

The artistic and curricular leadership group includes Ric Allsopp, Donna Faye Burchfield, and Thomas F. DeFrantz. Collaborating artists and scholars include Lauren Bakst, Douglas Becker, nora chipaumire, DD Dorvillier, Beth Gill, Ishmael Houston-Jones, Iréne Hultman, HeJin Jang, Shayla-Vie Jenkins, Niall Jones, Jaamil Olawale Kosoko, Jimena Paz, Jillian Peña, Ben Pranger, VK Preston, Arkadi Zaides and Jesse Zaritt. Curricular research topics fuel the selection of faculty, mentors, advisors and resident artists/scholars each year, who form an ongoing community of exchange for all Dance graduate students.

Contact Program Director Donna Faye Burchfield at dance@uarts.edu

Study Cycle 

Gain insights into our 2023 Study Cycle.

University of the Arts Dance MFA Program

July 10–14, 2023

A series of daily situations for collective study
 

“Critical Bodies: borders|ACCESS|care”

ICI CCN Montpellier, France

Guest curators and directors: Thomas F. DeFrantz and Isabelle Ginot

Invited guests include 

• Barak ade Soleil 

• Nicolas Bourriaud

• Donna Faye Burchfield

• Yve Laris Cohen

• Anne Kerzerho

• Isabelle Launay 

• Josep Rafanell 

• Myriam Suchet 

• Arkadi Zaides

A shift in paradigm is currently in process, according to Paul B. Preciado, toward a nonbinary epistemology. 

An epistemology where oppositions that structure hierarchies of values in post-industrial societies—body vs. mind, masculine vs feminine, productive vs. unproductive, abled vs. disabled—are challenged by global movements of resistance. 

Trans bodies, subaltern bodies, migrant bodies … 

What are body experiences of being in transition? Realignments in age, gender, expressions of sexuality? What are practices of training and untraining? 

Geopolitical borders are crucial in our world, and stand as strict material and political limits that many bodies transgress for survival. Other borders, although less material, shape our lives and actions. Aesthetic borders and formations of art. Social differences. City neighborhoods. Academic disciplines. Conceptual categories. A nagging sense of belonging or not being part of ... Feeling conformity or feeling strange. Our moves continuously shape and extend the limits of borders, shaping and unshaping them, twisting their lines, blurring form. 

Access, Care; Learning, Study. What do we need to access shared spaces of learning and unknowing? Crafting common spaces through discourse and listening, moving and unmoving. Orienting towards difference; a discourse of criticality and care. Political renderings of need and desire made manifest through interaction and change. How do we constitute a commons that cares toward our variety? 

During this symposium, we will explore what practices of dance and art, activist actions or researches are supporting, embodying or resisting aspects of this paradigm. 

– Thomas F. DeFrantz & Isabelle Ginot

En français

“Corps critiques: Frontières|ACCÈS|soin”

ICI CCN Montpellier, France
 

Un changement de paradigme serait en cours, selon Paul B. Preciado, vers une épistémologie non binaire. Dans cette épistémologie à venir, les oppositions qui structurent les différences de valeurs de nos sociétés post-industrielles – corps vs esprit, masculin vs féminin, productif vs improductif, handicapé vs valide, etc. – sont mises au défi par des mouvements globalisés de résistance. Corps trans, corps subalternes, corps migrants … 

Quelles sont les expériences des corps en transition? comment se redéfinissent les âges, les genres, les expressions des sexualités? Quelles sont leurs pratiques d’entraînement, et de dés-entraînement? 

Les frontières géopolitiques sont au fondement de notre monde, et forment des limites matérielles et politiques strictes que de nombreux corps tentent de traverser pour survivre. D’autres frontières, quoique moins matérielles, imposent leur forme à nos vies et à nos actions. Celles des esthétiques et des genres en art. Les différences sociales. Les quartiers de nos villes. Les disciplines académiques. Les catégories conceptuelles. Une impression tenace de faire partie de quelque chose et d’en être exclu.e. Se sentir conforme ou étranger.e. Tous nos gestes ne cessent de consolider ou défaire ces frontières, en tordre les lignes, en brouiller la clarté. 

Accéder; prendre soin; apprendre; étudier. Quels accès avons nous à des espaces communs d’apprentissage et de non-savoir? Comment fabriquer des espaces communs par le discours et l’écoute, le mouvement et sa suspension? S’orienter vers la différence, et construire une parole de critique et de soin? 

Quels sont les effets politiques du besoin et du désir qui se manifestent dans l’interaction et le changement? Comment fabriquer un commun qui prend soin de notre diversité? 

Durant cette semaine de symposium, il s’agira d’explorer comment nos pratiques de danse et d’art, nos actions militantes ou nos recherches participent à certains aspects de ce changement de paradigme, ou a contraire lui résistent. 

– Thomas F. DeFrantz & Isabelle Ginot 

Intervenant.e.s confirmé.e.s

• Barak ade Soleil 

• Nicolas Bourriaud

• Donna Faye Burchfield

• Yve Laris Cohen

• Anne Kerzerho

• Isabelle Launay 

• Josep Rafanell 

• Myriam Suchet 

• Arkadi Zaides

Fifth Quarter is out now!

This book is published on the occasion of the University of the Arts Dance MFA in residence at BOK, Philadelphia, June 28 - July 2, 2021 a week long study cycle engaging in independent and collaborative learning exercises that respond to the site of the gym. This publication can be seen as “an archive of the time spent together”. 

Reach out to esiddiquie@uarts.edu if you are interested in purchasing a copy.

The School for Temporary Liveness, Vol. 2

June 15 – 19, 2020

A series of daily situations for collective study
 

Watch, listen, speak, practice and reflect with Morgan Bassichis, Tina Campt, rile*, Rebecca Schneider, Julie Tolentino, Simone White, Wilmer Wilson IV and Arkadi Zaides

Co-Curators: Lauren Bakst and Niall Jones

Photo: Constance Mensh. 

On the closing day of the first School for Temporary Liveness in October 2019, we found ourselves assembled on a staircase. Spilling from steps onto landings and into hallways, this was where we had to be. Inhabiting architectures of transition opened other possibilities for thinking together. In those spaces between and alongside, collective assembly became an occasion to exchange knowledge, share experiences, and continue dreaming of the world’s futures.

We are coming back to school, even though we never left. As the third annual Study Cycle for the University of the Arts MFA in Dance program, the School for Temporary Liveness, Vol 2. continues our investment in experimental pedagogies within and alongside dance and performance. Imagining ourselves together in liminal spaces as we gather virtually from bedrooms, living rooms, bathrooms, kitchens, closets, basements, porches and fire escapes, how might we propose and enact models for living in and with the world? 

We invoke hallways—those transitory spaces of sociality and encounter—to hold our collective and experimental study. In this critical movement between before and after, how do we learn? We will let ourselves not know so that we might more accurately feel what we already knew. We attend diligently and effortfully to the inquiries and practices that call us toward our experiences of liveness. This is school and study is an activity best done together, with all of the pleasures and difficulties. We are all students.
 
Original support for the School for Temporary Liveness was provided by The Pew Center for Arts & Heritage, Philadelphia.
Notes on the School for Temporary Liveness is out now!

This publication gathers reflections on and responses to The School for Temporary Liveness, Vol. 1—a week-long event that brought performances, workshops, talks, conversations, and new formats for study together within the poetic frame of a school. It includes contributions by Lauren Bakst, Jon Baldwin, Donna Faye Burchfield, Thomas F. DeFrantz, VK Preston, Rebecca Schneider, Andrew J. Smyth and Connie Yu. Their reflections offer glimmers of what the School for Temporary Liveness was, and have embedded within them tools and inquiries for ongoing collective study.

View the publication online here or email lbakst@uarts.edu to order yours in print for $10.

Notes on the School for Temporary Liveness has been supported by the Pew Center for Arts & Heritage.
 

How to Apply

Who Should Apply

The MFA in Dance is designed with specific creative practitioners in mind.

The Philadelphia Residency Structure is designed for highly motivated emerging artists with a strong interest in expanding their knowledge and experience in an uninterrupted way. Applicants should have three to five years of experience beyond undergraduate study.

The Low-Residency Structure is designed for mid-career artists, teachers and dance professionals who seek different perspectives in their practices and career trajectories. Applicants should have a minimum of eight to 10 years of professional experience. Low-Residency students complete the summer term in residence, while fall and spring terms are completed through self-directed work with support from mentors and peers.

The Flex Structure options are available to qualified applicants who seek a completion path with more flexibility by extending their study over a longer duration. 

Contact dance@uarts.edu to learn more. 
 

Application Deadline

The deadline to apply for the MFA in Dance 2024 academic year is Jan. 24, 2024.

Application Requirements

• Start or resume your application.

• $60 nonrefundable application fee

  • If the cost of the application fee is a barrier, contact Admissions to request a fee waiver code.

• Official undergraduate transcript

  • Official transcripts must be sent directly from the college where you have earned, or will earn, your undergraduate degree by mail, email or a secure electronic document-delivery service. 

  • If you have earned, or will earn, your undergraduate degree outside the U.S., see our transcript requirements for international graduate applicants below.

  • MFA in Dance applicants are expected to have an undergraduate degree in dance or an undergraduate degree in another area with comparable professional experience. In exceptional circumstances, exemplary professional experience might be accepted in lieu of an undergraduate degree. Those prospective applicants are advised to contact the MFA program at dance@uarts.edu in advance of submitting an application.

• Two letters of recommendation

  • Two letters of recommendation from professors or professionals in your field, who are familiar with your capabilities, are required. In the case that these recommenders are not available, you may request letters from colleagues, collaborators or peers, if necessary.

  • Applicants must enter contact information for their recommenders on the application. An email will be sent to recommenders providing a link for them to upload their letter. Letters of recommendation may also be submitted by the recommender via email to gradcredentials@uarts.edu.

• Statement of intent

  • Statements should be a minimum of one to two pages and detail your professional plans, interests and goals. What do you hope to gain by your studies at the graduate level?

    • Students who wish to be considered for Tuition Fellowship Awards must also submit an additional essay that further describes their professional goals and how a fellowship will facilitate attaining them. This essay should be included in the same document as your statement of intent. 

  • Your statement of intent may be uploaded during the application process or added after submission via your applicant status portal. 

• Résumé

  • Your résumé should highlight all your professional accomplishments, including employment, internships, honors, exhibitions and publications.

  • Your résumé may be uploaded during the application process or added after submission via your applicant status portal. 

• Portfolio 

  • MFA applicants should submit a portfolio of at least three recent choreographic and/or performative works from the past five years. Documentation of works may take a variety of formats, from short videos (no longer than five minutes), images, links to external websites, writings and/or project briefs. In addition, provide a text document titled “List of Works” that provides an overview of all works, a short description of each and the type of documentation you are submitting for each. Works that are not contextualized or adequately described may not be evaluated.

  • The portfolio may be uploaded during the application process or via your applicant status portal after submission. You must confirm when your submission is complete via the linked electronic form before your portfolio can be reviewed for admission. 

• Interview

  • After the application has been processed, applicants might be contacted for a personal interview conducted by the program leadership team and faculty. Interviews may be conducted on campus or by phone or Zoom.

International Applicants

In addition to the requirements listed above, international applicants or those with foreign credentials must submit

• Official undergraduate transcripts

  • Applicants who have academic documents from institutions outside the U.S. are required to provide original, attested or certified true copies of academic records from the institution where they have earned, or will earn, their undergraduate degree. These records should be in the original language in which they were issued.

  • For postsecondary school records that are not in English, applicants must also submit an official translation of all their academic documents. Translations must be a complete, literal, word-for-word translation in the same format of the original academic document. Transcripts cannot be translated by the student or any members of their family. Acceptable translators include English teachers or other school officials, professional translators, or a local EducationUSA office. 

  • Admissions might request that students obtain a course-by-course credential evaluation if we are not able to confirm the equivalent level to a U.S. undergraduate degree.

• Proof of English proficiency

  • For international applicants whose primary language is not English, and who have not completed two semesters of college-level English in a college/university where the language of instruction is English, proof of English proficiency is required. 

  • Recommended minimums for English proficiency exams are as follows. 

    • TOEFL iBT: 79
    • TOEFL essentials: 8.5
    • IELTS: 6.5
    • Pearson PTE Academic: 53
    • Duolingo: 100

  • Applicants who meet the academic and creative requirements for admission but whose scores do not meet the English proficiency requirement for degree study might receive an offer of conditional admission that requires enrollment in the university’s English as a Second Language Institute (ESLI). Applicants who successfully complete ESLI will then be able to begin their degree program studies in the fall semester.

  • In special circumstances, applicants who do not have access to the TOEFL, IELTS or Duolingo English tests can request a waiver of this requirement. The request should be submitted by email to admissions@uarts.edu. Requests will then be reviewed on a case-by-case basis and might require an interview.

• I-20/F-1 international student visa information: Upon acceptance, students will be contacted by University of the Arts’ International Student Programs office, regarding visa counseling and all materials required to create an I-20 in order to obtain an F-1 visa. Contact Mara Flamm, director of international student programs, with any questions regarding your I-20 or F-1 visa.

Apply Now

Scholarships & Grants 

Travel Assistance Grant 

All MFA Dance students are eligible for a $500 travel assistance grant awarded each summer, for a maximum of two summers (total award not to exceed $1,000) to help defray the costs of travel.

Tuition Fellowships

Tuition Fellowships are competitive awards that range in amount. Awards are based both on the applicant's creative merit and demonstrated financial need. All MFA Dance applicants are eligible. Interested students must submit an additional essay that further describes their professional goals and how a fellowship will facilitate attaining them. This essay should be included within the statement of intent document uploaded online when you complete the online application. U.S.-based students must also submit a FAFSA.

Post-MFA Support

Once students graduate from the program, the Post-MFA cohort emerges as a resource to develop new formations for exchange that may include study groups, practice residencies, fellowships and research platforms.

Financial Aid

All applicants are reviewed for merit-based awards during the admissions process. In addition, most US citizens and permanent residents qualify for federal, need-based financial aid. You will need to file a Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA) in order to be evaluated for eligibility. Once you are admitted and we have received your FAFSA, you will receive a financial aid notification letter. For full details please visit fafsa.ed.gov or contact the Office of Student Financial Services at UArts. 

Tuition & Fees

Learn more about graduate tuition and fees.