Central to the study programme are analysis and reflection combined with enhancing your technical expertise and a hands-on, body-orientated approach to working with dancers in the studio. During an intensive two-year period, the programme offers students the chance to undertake artistic research, realize performances and follow education modules. The programme has already produced two groups of professional choreographers.

The study programme gives you the opportunity to deepen your artistic motives and/or explore new roads. We consider it important that you continue to work professionally; therefore the programme is based on a personal education plan. It consists of a range of activities during 20 weeks of compulsory training complemented with an individual study path. It is possible to combine this study programme with an active career as choreographer.

The RDA sets great store by choreographers developing themselves in an environment where dance and the production of dance performance take centre stage. The RDA offers you the opportunity to work with talented dance students and to use the advanced theatrical facilities they have at their disposal. Our connections with work venues and production companies in the vicinity (Dansateliers, Korzo theater, Theater Lantaren/Venster and Rotterdamse Schouwburg), with professional dance ensembles in Rotterdam and elsewhere in addition to the leading (guest) teachers and choreographers annually invited to work at the RDA, complete the picture. Through the study programme you become a part of this network.

In-depth artistic investigation and innovation are the study programme’s key ingredients. To that end you will undertake practice-led dance research. In other words, research that focuses on questions concerning artistic development and innovation. The core of this research is your own creative process – from idea to production, including all intermediate steps. You will present the results of your research in the form of a dance production that will be programmed in theatres outside the school. Your written research report is both an instrument and a commentary of this practical investigation.

To support your artistic research and the making of productions, there are three main modules: Laban Movement Analysis, Group Work Composition and Interdisciplinary Work. Theory lessons take place in the form of workshops. You, as student, will be consulted about the appointment of coaches to act in a supervisory role. The coach, always an expert in his/her field, helps you make artistic decisions and serves as a sounding board for reflection. The coordinator of the programme monitors study progress and gives extra artistic supervision.

In addition, you will participate in practical modules like art lectures, concept development and workshops (computer techniques and making music collages, video editing, theatre lighting, and a management and production course). To supplement these study aspects, you can make use of the available expertise in the field of music analysis, dance history, art appreciation, dance and text and lessons in improvisation/composition (partnering/contact improvisation). Furthermore, an individual study path will be plotted for you, depending on your experience, personal development and research plan.

The study programme is open to choreographers with three years practical experience who are bachelor of dance graduates or have completed an equivalent study. Admission is through audition. Those applicants, who fail to comply with all admission requirements, must first follow an intake programme.