Tring Park School for the Performing Arts is one of the nine specialist Music and Dance Schools in the UK.
The dance course is a three year program designed to deliver 21st-century training in Classical Ballet, Contemporary and Jazz, ensuring students are industry-ready upon graduation. In the final year of study students join Encore Dance Company, giving the dancers invaluable experience in working with external choreographers from the professional world enhancing the knowledge and skill development.
The Diploma provides an industry-led and endorsed qualification for learners. In order to pass the Diploma in professional dance, students must demonstrate the skills, knowledge and understanding required in all three genres studied to find employment as a professional performer.
Course Summary
The course is for the dancer with an interest in many different genres and the drive to be as versatile and employable as possible. Creativity and independent motivation are encouraged and nurtured via a wide range of subjects learned, with ample opportunities to express their skills and artistic abilities throughout their training. A large faculty with a diverse range of experiences across the professional performance industry are ideally placed to mentor and prepare students for the rigour of their chosen careers.
Students study a variety of dance genres including: classical ballet, pointe work, solos, repertoire, pas de deux, contemporary (Release and Cunningham), jazz, commercial, pilates, conditioning, fitness, weights, contemporary improvisation (Years Two and Three), jazz double work (Year Three) and contact improvisation (Year Three). Students are also able to supplement their vocational training with syllabus classes in RAD Ballet and ISTD Modern and Tap, enabling students to achieve these useful qualifications via additional weekend classes.
Recent graduates of this course have gone on to have successful careers as choreographers and commercial dancers and have also joined companies that include: Matthew Bourne’s New Adventures, Ballet Theatre UK, Tulsa Ballet Company, Orlando Ballet Company, The National Moravian – Silesian Theatre, Vanemuine Ballet Company, Royal Caribbean Cruises, Budapest Dance Theatre, Baltic Opera Ballet, Anything Goes, Wicked, Tanz Kassel Contemporary Dance Company, San Diego Ballet, Ballet Ireland, Beauty & The Beast, Dancers Inc, Summer The Donna Summer Musical, Cabaret Kit Kat Club, The Romanian National Opera, Singapore Dance Theatre, St Petersburg Ballet Theatre, Takarazuka Music School, Ballet Cymru 2, Princess Cruises, Netherlands Dance Theatre 2, P&O Cruises, Brecon Festival Ballet, Rubicon Dance Company, Ballet De Toulouse, Jasmin Vardimon Company, Eliot Smith Dance.
Course Structure
The first year of the course lays the foundation for what is to come: students study classical ballet along with two other core subjects of contemporary and jazz. Additional subjects studied in the first-year include pointe work, repertoire, virtuosity, solos, pas de deux, conditioning (including weight training), and commercial dance.
In the second year, students continue to develop their skills in all aspects of dance with additional classes added in contemporary improvisation.
In the third and final year of training, vocational work intensifies as the students transition into Encore Dance Company, working towards the Trinity Level 6 Diploma in Professional Dance. Daily work becomes reminiscent of professional company life. Industry professionals are invited to set new or existing dance repertoire on the Company for their showcase as the students learn to adapt to the rigours of professional life and rise to the expectations of being a company member.
As part of the Trinity Diploma, all practical studies are underpinned by theoretical and contextual knowledge known as Integrated Professional Studies (IPS), wherein students study aspects of becoming working professional dancers. This unit of the Trinity Diploma is delivered across the first five terms of the Sixth Form course, with students developing a portfolio of their responses to the lessons undertaken.
Fees & Funding
The school offers Music and Dance Scheme Awards, funded by the Department for Education. The awards are designed to ensure that access to excellent training may be given to talented young dancers regardless of their background or financial circumstances. These are means-tested awards and therefore the level of funding is dependent on parental income.
FAQs
The Trinity Level 5 & 6 Diploma in professional dance is a further education (FE) vocational qualification validated by Trinity College London. Tring Park is one of several course providers within the UK, and offers both a Level 5 (two-year, completed in Years One & Two) and Level 6 (three-year) version of the qualification in Professional Dance.
The audition is a classical class, showing pointe work and a contemporary phrase. A solo of your choice is also required in any genre you wish to show. A physio and academic assessment are also included as part of the school’s entry process.
One minute in length.
Academic subjects are held in the morning from 8.30am and vocational classes start at 1.45pm and go on until 6.30pm.
Find Out More
Antony Dowson ARAD, PDTC Dip. | Artistic Director of Encore and Graduate Programmes
Lorraine Jones LISTD (MTH, Tap), AISTD (CB, NT) | Director of Dance Course, Head of Dance