What is dance? Is there relationship between breakdance and capoeira and halling? Why do small girls want to look like ballerinas? Nordic Master of Arts in Dance studies is an opportunity to get the most updated knowledge about the past and present of various dance types such as folk and street, ballet and modern, ballroom and club dance. The programme also provides the skills in analysis of dance as bodily movement, aesthetic expression, tradition and interpretation of music.

Nordic co-operation

Nordic Master of Arts in Dance studies (NOMADS) is run in cooperation between the Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU) and the Universities of Helsinki, Stockholm and Oulo. Such cooperation creates the synergetic effect by putting competences of teachers together and crossing the boundaries between genres, countries, arts and sciences. The compulsory courses in NOMADS emphasise theories and methods, dance analysis and the history of dance.

Programme contents

The programme of study combines professional artistic, ethnological/anthropological, and common cultural-anthropological approaches. Furthermore, it includes in-depth studies within a number of genres of dance. The compulsory courses represent the joint academic basis for the master's programme, and emphasise theory and method, dance analysis and the history of dance. The instruction of these courses is structured around intensive periods of teaching and academic supervision. The coursework amounts to three semesters of full-time study. The master's thesis awards 30 ECTS credits and is written during the two final semesters of study.

See previous theses completed by NOMADS students listed under "Dansevitenskap" (page is in Norwegian).

Learning outcome

A candidate who has completed his or her qualification should have the following learning outcomes defined in terms of knowledge, skills and general competence:

Knowledge

Master graduates in dance studies

• have specialised knowledge about application and development of dance studies.
• have knowledge about theory and methods in the fields such as analysis, history, anthropology and theory of dance.
• have knowledge about the central and the most actual research topics in the field.

General competencies

Master graduates in dance studies

• can approach phenomena from different perspectives.
• can present or perform arguments in oral and written form using an appropriate terminology.
• can develop ideas and formulate problems in the field of studies; can collect, use and present subject matter, give advice and make professional evaluations.

Skills

Master graduates in dance studies

• can use the knowledge and methods to implement analytical projects on a high level.
• can use knowledge to develop an in-depth project in a particular field of dance.
• can run independent projects based on research.