Project and Performance Work II

Brief course description

Project and Performance Work includes studying the process of making a choreography from idea to finished production, including knowledge of project management. The course incorporates several elements into the programme through given assignments of varying complexity.

The course shall give the students experience with and competence in staging choreography in various spaces and contexts and in using stagecraft elements. It includes application of visuality, material and design in relation to movement in space, as well as the use of various forms of documentation during choreographic processes.

The course shall also strengthen the students’ competence to communicate and interact with various performers and disciplines when collaborating on a given production. Collaborations with other students both at the Academy of Dance and the other departments at the Oslo National Academy of the Arts, as well as other relevant institutions, are an integral part of the course.

Project and Performance Work includes an introduction to project management. Students will acquire fundamental knowledge of project planning, that is how to organise, finance and carry out a project, from writing applications to complying with the professional ethics and copyrights and other relevant topics that illuminate the choreographer’s role and work as project manager, employer and producer in their own enterprise.

The course shall give the student knowledge of the choreographer’s complex professional role as a creator of new endeavours and a contributor in various collaborative constellations. The course will also provide insight into the conditions and possibilities of dance by reviewing some of the support schemes, structures and actors (whether festivals, commissioning venues or companies) that exist in the field.

The course’s learning outcomes

The course’s learning outcomes are described as follows:

Knowledge

Upon completing the course, students shall

• have knowledge of key questions related to working contextually on choreography

Skills

Upon completing the course, students shall

• be able to use choreographic skills and contextual understanding to tackle given assignments and frameworks
• be able to plan, organise, manage, carry out and present an artistic project practically, organisationally and in an ethically responsible manner
• be able to gather information and analyse given conditions of production when working on creating artistically relevant projects

General competence

Upon completing the course, students shall

• be able to demonstrate choreographic independence and creativity when staging given and self-chosen assignments and relating to given frameworks
• be able to work artistically as a responsible project leader in various types of choreographic projects
• be able to demonstrate a deliberate, independent and reflective outlook on the exercise of their occupation
• be able to present and document independent artistic work both to peers and the general public

Teaching and learning methods

The course’s working methods may be based on group work or more independent project work in combination with workshops, excursions, fieldworks, seminars, lectures and teacher-led learning, and supervision. The course includes a large degree of independent artistic work that shall demonstrate reflection, understanding and maturation. As part of the coursework, the students will share results or experiences from the process with others by documenting their own process, whether in writing, orally, performatively and/or through audiovisual means. Some of the teaching may take place together with other relevant programmes.

The course requirements are

• mandatory attendance and active participation
• approved completion of given assignments

Assessment

All course requirements must be approved in order for a student to receive a final course assessment.

The students’ coursework productions will be assessed on an ongoing basis. The ongoing assessment is based on supervision, educators’ assessments, feedback from one’s fellow students, group discussions and independent reflection on one’s artistic development as seen in relation to the course’s learning outcomes

The course is graded pass/fail.