Dance Auditions

Please submit an application via UCAS Conservatoires.

You only need to apply for your preferred course (foundation, degree, or postgraduate level) and audition in person or by sending a recording on Embark. Exchange applicants should complete the required form available from the International Office at their Home institution.

Please note that there is no audition fee for these programmes. You will only need to pay the UCAS Conservatoires administration fee of £28.50 for the 2025 entry cycle.

For undergraduate courses, please submit your application without your outstanding references by ticking the option that you will download the offline reference forms. Just enter the names and contact details of your referees. You can then mark the section as complete.

Your referees do not need to send us your references; we will contact them, if necessary.

For postgraduate programmes, two references are required (one practical/professional and one academic). Your referees should be familiar with your work and be able to comment on your suitability for the programme of your choice and your ability to work at the appropriate academic level.

Your Personal Statement should address:

• your background and relevant experience;
• your reasons for applying to Trinity Laban; and
• a rationale for your choice of programme (for each programme if you are applying for more than one) including:
• the relevance of the programme to your current practice and future professional aspirations; and
• why you are interested in the programme at this point in your educational / personal / career / professional development.

In person auditions will take place at Laban Building, London, on the following dates:

• Thursday 12 December
• Wednesday 22 January
• Tuesday 11 February
• Thursday 13 February
• Tuesday 18 February
• Thursday 13 March 

For more information, please contact admissions@trinitylaban.ac.uk 

Once you have submitted your application via UCAS Conservatoires, you should submit your recorded audition on Embark.

You should include three videos:

• your Creative Task
• contemporary Technique 1 exercises
• either Contemporary Technique 2, Ballet or Hip Hop exercises.

For both the ballet and contemporary exercises, accompanying music of a similar tempo to that played in the video may be used or the exercises may be filmed in silence.

You can find more information and FAQ about recorded auditions on the video at the end.

Disclaimer

Please note that upon uploading your recording, portfolio and supplementary materials on Embark, you are giving Trinity Laban the permission to also upload a copy of your UCAS Conservatoires application and any references received onto Embark for the sake of assessing your UCAS Conservatoires application and your Embark application simultaneously.

Creative Work

The creative task is to devise and film your performance of a 1-minute solo illustrating your individual response to the tasks explored in the video. The solo should be performed in silence.

Contemporary Dance Technique 1

Please film yourself front-facing for all the exercises.

Contemporary Dance Technique 2

You will see alternative orientations for the contemporary technique 2 exercises. Please film yourself in both front-facing and side-facing positions for the first two exercises and in a front-facing position only for the third exercise.

Ballet

You will see three ballet exercises demonstrated both from a front-facing and a back-facing perspective. Please film yourself executing these exercises in a front-facing position only (the back-facing demonstration is there to help you learn the exercises).

Hip Hop

Please film yourself completing these exercises in a front-facing position.

Criteria for Assessment of Applicants

• Physical skills and facility
• Movement memory / capacity to pick up the recorded materia
• Spatial awareness / musicality
• Level of engagement
• Range of movement qualities / dynamics
• Presence
• Response to tasks
• Creative choices 

Criteria for Assessment in the Interview 

• Evidence of a serious commitment to dance study leading to vocational opportunities
• A positive attitude to the opportunities and demands of the dance training offered on the programme
• Enthusiasm and interest in dance practices 

Possible areas you may be asked to talk about

• Your dance background
• Your reasons for applying
• Future aspirations as a dance artist
• Your experience of the audition process
• Reflect on your response to the creative task 

Please watch this video for more information and advice on recorded auditions.

If you would like some more audition guidance, please see our Dance Audition Tips.

MA and MFA Dance Leadership and Community Practice

You should upload or provide online links to your work. These could include: 

• Video document(s) showing you dancing material from a dance/movement class (this can be in any movement genre) or doing a movement practice. This is so the panel can see you in an embodied practice and your potential to be communicative through moving and engage others in moving. Can be filmed in any space available to you. (Guideline for length: around 10-12 minutes) 
• Footage of movement improvisation with some information of the basis or inspiration for the improvisation. (guideline for length: 2-4 minutes) 
• Footage of you teaching dance, or facilitating a workshop in a community/educational setting. (Please ensure you have the consent of any other people / participants, including musicians and other professionals, who appear in the footage {especially in the case of children or vulnerable adults} to film and share the footage. Trinity Laban agrees only to view / share the filmed material amongst individuals on the Admissions Panel and purely for the purposes of considering your application to the course). 

Videos can have a verbal introduction so you can introduce yourself and explain the content. 

Applicants are normally expected to have a first degree (or an equivalent qualification) in a relevant subject and/or relevant (professional) experience, preferably in dance, education or community-related work. 

Applicants should upload a proposal, outlining: 

• the reasons you wish to carry out an independent project over a full academic year
• your suitability for extended independent research in the context of an MFA DLCP; and 
• the nature of your intended research and a draft project timeline with indicated research outputs (which is understandably subject to change). 

Shortlisted applicants to the MFA will also be invited to undertake an online discussion. 

MA and MFA Choreography

You should upload or provide an online link to choreographed work that you have created. It should be between 12 -15 minutes in length, and include:

• an excerpt of a solo;
• an excerpt of a group work; and
• an excerpt of a rehearsal, workshop or class in which you are an active participant.

You should also include:

• a comment on the material presented, and on the process for its creation/devising/realization; and
• a comment on some of the artistic problems you encountered, and how you went about solving them.

Additional requirements for MFA

Applicants should upload a proposal, outlining:

• the reasons you wish to carry out an independent project over a full academic year;
• your suitability for extended independent research in the context of an MFA Choreography; and
• the nature of your intended research and a draft project timeline with indicated research outputs (which is understandably subject to change).

Applicants to the MFA will also be required to undertake an interview (if not in person, an online interview can be arranged).

MA and MFA Creative Practice

If your practice is in dance / dance theatre

You should upload or provide an online link to choreographed work that you have created. It should be between 12 -15 minutes in length, and include:

• an excerpt of a solo
• an excerpt of a group work
• an excerpt of a rehearsal, workshop or class in which you are an active participant.

You should also include:

• a comment on the material presented, and on the process for its creation/devising/realization; and
• a comment on some of the artistic problems you encountered, and how you went about solving them.

If your practice is in another art form

You should upload or provide an online link to:

• material evidence of your dance/movement ability; and
• substantial evidence of current artistic practice (such as design portfolio, scripts, evidence of theatre direction, acting involvement, etc.). The visual material must be accompanied by explanatory notes that set the context of the material.

Additional requirements for MFA

Applicants should upload a proposal, outlining:

• the reasons you wish to carry out an independent project over a full academic year
• your suitability for extended independent research in the context of an MFA Creative Practice; and
• the nature of your intended research and a draft project timeline with indicated research outputs (which is understandably subject to change).

Applicants to the MFA will also be required to undertake an interview (if not in person an online interview can be arranged).

MA and MFA Dance Performance

These programmes are suited to both recent graduates and to more experienced performers who wish to refresh and reframe their performance practice alongside gaining a postgraduate qualification. You will need to demonstrate a level of dance performance practice, either at an audition workshop or through video application, that is commensurate with study at master’s level.

Please submit an application via UCAS Conservatoires in the first instance, to receive more information about how to submit your recorded material.

You can submit your recorded material via Embark. Please upload the following material:

1. Showreel / portfolio of work, maximum 5 minutes. This could be footage of you performing, working in the studio, outside, etc. You should be clearly visible in the video. It would be useful to think about how your choice of footage represents your work as a dance artist/performer.
2. Solo task: take a look at this famous solo created and performed by Trisha Brown in 1978.

Your task is to film yourself dancing a 60 second response. You are not expected to learn or reproduce any of the material, instead we are asking you to choreograph a new solo or simply to improvise freely for 60 seconds, working with movement ideas from the film. Here are some things you might want to think about, but feel free to use your own ideas:

• Taking impulses/directional change from different parts of the body
• Moving in and out of pedestrian and more complex movement vocabulary
• Finding a play between physical clarity and freedom/fluidity

Your solo might look very different to the one on film, and that’s okay!

3. A recording of you speaking to camera explaining why you want to apply for this programme and telling us about your choice-making in the solo task. This should be maximum 2-mins.

4. If your video application is successful, you will be invited to an online interview with the Programme Leader.

Additional requirements for MFA

Applicants should upload (to Embark) a proposal, outlining:

• The reasons they wish to carry out an independent project over one academic year (their second year of study)
• Their suitability for extended independent research in the context of an MFA Dance Performance
• The nature of their intended research and a draft projected timeline with indicated outputs of research (which can be subject to change).

MSc and MFA Dance Science

Applicants are expected to have practical dance experience (in any dance style) and the UCAS Conservatoires application should evidence this. In addition, your application should include a brief commentary on your motivations to study Dance Science with reference to any particular areas you are currently interested in and your future goals.

In addition, you will be asked to submit a Comprehensive Personal Statement which consists of two parts.

In Part One, you should include a brief commentary (which can be based on our UCAS Conservatoires application statement) on:

• the reasons to study Dance Science and its value for the dance artist and dance practice
• any previous experience on research or other activities relevant to dance science
• the particular areas of Dance Science in which you are currently interested, i.e. what you are interested in exploring more while on the Programme and why.

In Part Two. you are asked to choose and answer to three questions of a list of Dance Science related topics. The word count for this part is circa 900 words (approximately 300 words per question, not inclusive of the reference list).

Detailed guidance for this task will be sent to you upon receipt of your UCAS Conservatoire application.

Additional requirements for MFA

In addition to the brief commentary submitted in UCAS Conservatoires application, applicants should upload a proposal, outlining: 

• the reasons you wish to carry out an independent project over a full academic year.
• your suitability for extended independent research in the context of an MFA Dance Science.
• the nature of your intended research and a clear research question you would like to investigate.
• a draft project timeline with potential research outputs (which is understandably subject to change). 

Applicants to the MFA will also be required to undertake an interview (if not in person, online interviews can be arranged). 

Specialist Diploma in Choreological Studies

Application for this programme is via Embark (not UCAS Conservatoires).

Selection is based on your application, which should contain the following: 

• A current CV and copies of relevant qualifications 
• A personal statement including your background in Choreological Studies and your reasons for wishing to study on this programme 
• A recent headshot (passport photos are fine) 
• Details of any English language qualifications if English is not your first language.