For admittance to the master’s program applicants need to fulfill the following admission requirements:

(1) The admission requirement for the master’s degree program is a first university degree from a German or comparable non-German institution of higher education.

(2) Applicants who did not complete a university degree at an institution where coursework was conducted in English must demonstrate English language skills at a level equivalent to C1 of the Common European Framework of Reference for Languages (CEFR).

(3) Applicants who did not complete a university degree at an institution where coursework was conducted in German must demonstrate German language skills to B2 level (CEFR) or equivalent.

Students do not pay any tuition fees, the university only charges semester fees and contributions each semester.

Critical Dance Studies at Freie Universität Berlin is an internationally respected program that brings together students from around the globe to study dance within one of the art form’s most important urban centers. The course deals with the history, aesthetics and theory of dance and also explores the methodological potential of corporeality and ephemerality. At heart, the master's degree program is a scholarly approach to dance. This means you will work with academic texts, develop approaches to writing about dance, as well as methods of movement and performance analysis. This theoretical focus is brought into exchange with accompanying practical modules. On the one hand, these modules deal with body techniques and artistic research, and on the other hand, they introduce working methods, curatorial questions, and dramaturgical approaches.

To what extent is theatrical dance conditioned by historical and political preconditions? Does it test these only on stage, or does it practice and reveal other social forms of living and moving together? How does dance produce meaning through choreography and movement? What historical discourses and contemporary theories are negotiated in dance, how does dance contribute to their further development? And how do these theories inform, for example, feminist, queer, and decolonizing practices in dramaturgy and curating? These and other questions are what we address in the program.

With a range of venues including Staatsballett Berlin, Sophiensæle, Volksbühne, HAU Hebbel am Ufer, Dock 11 and Uferstudios, Berlin offers an unparalleled environment for Critical Dance Studies. The city’s vibrant dance scene attracts artists from all over the world and recent productions of both its local and international contributors are discussed in seminars. Collaborations with national and international institutions, such as the Inter-University Center for Dance Berlin, the Staatsballett Berlin, and the Centre national de danse contemporaine in Angers, France, enrich Freie Universität Berlin’s course of study. The Valeska Gert Guest Professorship, filled each semester by a leading figure of the international dance scene, assures a stimulating exchange between theory and practice.

Participants of the master’s degree program in Critical Dance Studies are made up of an international and highly motivated community of dance thinkers with a range of academic, artistic, and curatorial backgrounds. Students benefit from a transdisciplinary exchange with the other programs at the Institute of Theater Studies, including Theater, Music, and Film Studies, as well as Culture and Media Management. Students also have access to local dance archives at the Academy of Arts (Akademie der Künste), the Media Library for Dance and Theatre of the International Theatre Institute (ITI), and the Tanzforum Berlin. The Institute of Theater Studies at Freie Universität Berlin offers further guest invitations and events. The DanceLab, a movement space in the attic of the Institute of Theater Studies, enables practical research formats.

Students at the Institute of Theater Studies have access to the extensive dance and theater collections in our library, and to our media department, as well as to the Campus Library (Campusbibliothek) and Philological Library (Philologische Bibliothek, known as "The Berlin Brain"), offering students comprehensive resources for pursuing their study and research aims. The Staatsbibliothek, one of the largest libraries in Europe, and the Kunstbibliothek, one of the largest museum libraries worldwide, are free to access for those living in Berlin and provide unparalleled access to not only secondary literature, but primary sources dating back to the medieval.

The structure of the program is defined by the study regulations, containing detailed descriptions of the contents and goals of individual modules and example course sequences. The exam regulations define the type of and requirements for individual assessments in the modules and the final examination for the program. These regulations also define the available credits for each module or course and the required hours for the completion of the program.

Modules of the Master’s Program

• Module    Introduction to Critical Dance Studies
• Module    Theory, Aesthetics
• Module    Historicity, Historiography
• Module    Practice-led Research A and B
• Module    Dance, Arts, Media or Transdisciplinary Contexts
• Module    Approaches to Research

The Master's thesis should demonstrate that the student is capable of independently treating a defined research subject. Following successful completion of the program, the candidate will be awarded with the degree MA.

Graduates of the program will have acquired in-depth knowledge and research skills in preparation for further qualifications for a career in the field.

The master’s degree program qualifies graduates to pursue work related to dance in theaters and other cultural institutions, as well as in the fields of academia, journalism, cultural management, production, and communication, as well as archival and publishing work (for example, as a curator, dramaturge, cultural manager, editor, critic, mediator, or author). It also qualifies them to pursue a doctorate. In addition to their official academic qualification (M.A.), graduates have obtained specific skills that correspond to the learning objectives presented above for combining theoretical reflection with practical work.

• Dodds, Sherril (ed). 2019. The Bloomsbury Companion to Dance Studies. London: Bloomsbury Publishing.
• Manning, Susan, and Lucia Ruprecht (eds). 2012. New German Dance Studies. Urbana: University of Illinois Press.