Master of Fine Arts in Experimental Choreography

UC Riverside's Master of Fine Arts in Experimental Choreography offers emerging and established artists a site for intense investigation in dance making, performance, and interdisciplinary embodied practice. Over the course of six quarters, students engage in a series of core composition courses and select critical dance studies courses that focus on and address current and urgent questions in the field, and that center experimentation and interdisciplinarity in their approaches. Each quarter students pair with a faculty mentor, four quarters of which are for the Graduate Critique Panels (GCP), to engage intimately with their independent creative practices and show their work for critical feedback and progress evaluation. During the second year of the program students are required to share their work publicly as part of the MFA Fourth Quarter Showings (4QS), from which they begin to develop their final projects and form their committees. The final project demonstrates a thorough investigation and committed execution of a specific set of critical questions unique to their cumulative research, and includes a public artist talk and a written reflective/ theoretical document.
UCR's M.F.A. program is unique for the close relationship it maintains with the Ph.D. in Critical Dance Studies, one of the preeminent programs for intellectual inquiry in the field of cultural, political, and historical studies of dance. Cooperation between these two programs, both conceptually and through intersecting curricula, contributes to the department's embrace of dance making and scholarship as complementary modes of investigation. M.F.A. students are equally enriched by the professional relationships they develop with our undergraduate population through teaching, directing, producing, and community engagement. Several venues on and off campus, including our Performance Lab, Studio Labs, and the Culver Center of the Arts downtown, are available for students to share their research.
Riverside, CA, is an integral part of a dynamic constellation of landscapes including the high desert, the San Gorgonio Mountains, Los Angeles, and the US-Mexico border. UC Riverside is a place for our M.F.A. students to participate artistically and intellectually in a generative environment of diverse economies and cultural perspectives. Several venues on and off campus, including our Performance Lab and the Culver Center of the Arts downtown, are available to foster this exchange.

A bachelor's degree, or its equivalent, from an accredited institution. The degree must represent the completion of a program equivalent in subject matter and scholarship to that offered by the University of California.

A minimum of a 3.0 undergraduate GPA or B-equivalent (if GPA is not on a 4.0 scale). We recommend that you check with the graduate program as they may have a higher standard for their GPA requirements. If your GPA is below this, follow up with the graduate program you are interested. Applications are reviewed in their entirety and the program can look at your other components and advise you on potential admission.

All applications are initially reviewed by the graduate program before a recommendation is submitted to the Graduate Division for final approval.

We require transcripts with final grades or most recent grades (if degree is in progress) from all college-level institutions you have attended. We also require proof of any degree awarded to you. Confirmation of your degree can be a degree posting on a transcript or a copy of your degree certificate. If you have attended an institution located outside of the US.

IELTS - minimum acceptable overall score is 7 with no score less than 6 on any individual component. TOEFL - minimum acceptable scores are: 550 for the revised TOEFL paper-delivered test and 80 for the TOEFL iBT.