Let’s prepare you to step into the performing arts industry.
Actively create, make and perform your own work, as well as collaborate with students from other courses across the arts school – these are all things you will get to do whilst in the process of improving and building your techniques and skills to a high standard on our Performing Arts course.
The practical nature of the course ensures that you will be on your feet, doing what you love and working on live performances in theatre, site-specific venues, and festivals. You will be given recorded performance experience too, as you create films, audio dramas, animations, as well as immersive and multi-media events.
Your learning journey with us will be unique to you. Our small group sizes and high contact hours mean that you will be mentored by our experienced tutors to become the creative professional you want to be.
You may graduate to become a performer, actor (for stage or screen), professional dancer or physical actor, writer, director, choreographer, deviser, applied theatre practitioner, film-maker or digital artist. Or you may decide to go into postgraduate study or work in education, marketing, creative administration, or run your own company.
As part of your learning journey, you will have the opportunity to undertake work placements as well as work in multiple collaborations across other disciplines and with external industry professionals, giving you the ideal opportunity to meet and network with potential future collaborators or employers.
As a Live and Recorded Performance student, you will experience an exciting range of projects designed to develop skills, including: musical theatre, stage acting, choreography, movement for performers, acting for screen, audio acting, aerial circus, and other forms of dynamic performance.
There are regular opportunities throughout the course to perform in front of audiences and to be part of full-scale productions.
Each term you have a choice to work on either a ‘live’ performance such as a live theatre piece, or a ‘recorded’ project, such as choreographing and dancing in a music video.You will get the chance to explore diverse forms of live and recorded performance over three projects per year, where you could go from performing in a music video, to a Shakespeare play, to a piece of musical theatre.
Collaboration is a key focus of the course, and students are also encouraged to develop into ‘thinking’ performers. Both these collaborative and research skills are essential for a smooth transition into higher education, and continued growth as performers with successful careers.
You can choose to specialise in either Performance or Dance, or take the opportunity to combine both throughout the course. In the first year all students also study singing skills.
Get ready for an exhilarating and challenging journey to prepare you for life as an independent, creative professional actor.
You’ll be encouraged to take an independent and imaginative approach to the craft, as you build a full range of relevant movement, voice, musical and acting skills.
The skills you’ll learn will draw on the latest developments in the industry, enhanced by your teachers’ knowledge and experience and supported by the advanced performance technologies which we have in our cutting-edge facilities.
The Ensemble is at the heart of how we’ll train you. Drama is a collaborative art form and we place great emphasis on the individual’s responsibility to the group and the group’s responsibility to the individual. This creates an atmosphere of mutual respect where creativity can flourish.
You’ll gain confidence during your training, learning that an authentic and enthusiastic approach is the best preparation for a life in a dynamic profession. You’ll learn how to meet challenges head-on from the new knowledge and skills you’ll develop in your training.
Develop your performance talents in a friendly and inspiring atmosphere.
This course provides students with a strong grounding in performing arts and introduces a broad range of topics that support progression to further study.
Our aim is to encourage you to develop a knowledge and understanding of performing arts, and to grow in confidence across a range of disciplines. Students will build upon existing skills, and learn new acting and dance techniques for rehearsals and performances – all within a highly creative arts college environment.
Our performing arts students benefit from the College’s partnerships and links to:
- Hay Festival
- Pentabus Theatre
- The Courtyard Centre for the Arts
- Dancefest
- Aerial Dance Hereford Performing Arts
Key Areas
Acting skills and techniques.
Employment opportunities and skills.
Dance skills and techniques.
Production roles and opportunities.
Musical theatre performance.
We want to produce technically-strong, versatile dancers through training which is responsive to the trends and demands of professional dance.
Our course provides the technique, creativity, understanding and professional awareness to sustain a career as a professional. Classes cover a broad range of dance styles and complementary skills to make you an employable performer. We give you specific critique and guidance in your development, as well as offering the experience of being part of a company. You collaborate with students from other courses, giving you invaluable insight into the creative process from other perspectives and realities.
As an emerging dance artist, we want to strengthen your skills so that you can progress onto further study or work professionally.
You undertake intensive training in a variety of dance styles to extend your abilities as a dancer. As part of a small intake of students, you receive specific critique and feedback during classes and rehearsals, allowing you to continually develop and improve. You also develop the stamina and discipline required for higher-level training or professional work. This course helps you become a versatile and confident performer with a strong professional insight.
This programme is for advanced students with exceptional aptitude in their specialism, and strong professional and artistic ambitions. It provides specialist, professional training if you are looking to embark on a national and international career.
The Artist Diploma represents post-Masters progression, and is designed to meet the specialised needs and aspirations of outstanding performance students, and to support them with the competence and sensitivity required.
This masters degree enables you to create and showcase an original production. We welcome applicants with a diverse range of skills and life experiences to contribute to our MA Acting (Company).
Our MA is an opportunity to develop or reinvigorate yourself as an actor and create original theatre productions. Working in teams, you learn how to take charge of your professional journey and become self-sustaining, by creating public performances adaptable to different venues and circumstances.
You experiment, innovate, and get to grips with contemporary approaches to extend your range of presentational skills. Through an immersive and ensemble-based approach you develop your technical skills with industry leading professionals. This paves the way for you to step out into the profession with the confidence and connections to be a success. Throughout the course you work as a year group to produce four performances before your final project. For this final project you form into smaller companies, or a single-person company, with a grant from us, to create and realise an original work, testing it out by finding audiences for this in external venues.
