Politics of Representing Bodies serves as the foundational entry point into the "Political Contours of Performing" series, providing a rigorous exploration of performance theories of representation and the contexts under which identity formation occurs. The module meticulously tracks the axes of visibility, legibility, and agency, examining the political conditions of appearing—or refusing to appear—within various social and legal frameworks. Through an interdisciplinary lens that encompasses Black Studies, Indigenous studies, decolonial theory, and crip theory, students engage with representation through diverse dimensions such as gesture, hapticity, and temporalities of seeing. Ultimately, the essence of the module lies in treating theory as a material, somatic experience, where practice and research are enmeshed to develop a critical understanding of performance as a site of sociopolitical intervention.

This module provides students with a range of approaches to artistic research as well as the skills necessary for undertaking it as part of their degree. The module aims to foster the production of artistic source materials, plans, conceptual and technical experimentation and research work which maps the research topic and the formal strategies to be employed along the way. Through the lectures and seminars students will examine and explore the varied and multiple methods involved in researching, proposing and developing a critical artistic production. This will include the politics and ethics of research, examining digital media production through textual analysis, the use of archival and electronic sources and the relationship of discursive theoretical positions to artistic production-based work. Lecturers:Astarti Athanasiadou, Steef Kersbergen, Claudia Brazzale

This module provides a theoretical and practical process around the modes, meanings and functions of documentation and dissemination of practice-as-research. In a co-teaching format, various perspectives and approaches are exposed and discussed to help students develop their own standard and practice of documentation and dissemination. This module accompanies the module ‘Dissertation by Practice’, and will guide you to make a portfolio where you expose aspects of your practice-as-research (from ‘Dissertation by Practice’) in a tangible artefact format. From informal documentation as a research tool to more formal documentation as a tool of outreach (and many points between), this module seeks to encourage the practice of documenting as an integrated element of the student’s broader work and culminates with the delivery of a tangible portfolio contextualized by a final group show. Lecturers:Verena Stenke (VestAndPage), Andrea Pagnes (VestAndPage), Dr Anja Foerschner

This module sees students engage in self-initiated processes towards the design, development, and delivery a performance art research, culminating in the production towards their Exposition of Artistic Research (EAR) and the written dissemination of their research as thesis. Lecturers:Astarti Athanasiadou, Dr Anja Foerschner, external mentor (student choice)

Politics of Circulating Performances serves as the second installment in the "Political Contours of Performing" series, advancing the curriculum from theories of representation to a deep dive into the politics of circulation. This module investigates the material and affective conditions under which aesthetic and social performances move through infrastructures of distribution, focusing on core themes such as technologies of organisation, mobility, and frameworks of display. Through a combination of collective theoretical annotation and practice-led experimentation, students explore how to navigate power structures and institutional critique, ultimately culminating in a site-specific performance research presentation that may take the form of interventions, installations, or digital interfaces. By grappling with the frictions of transmission and collective action, the module enables students to critically situate their work within global networks of communication and social reproduction, viewing performance as a vital tool for political engagement and the negotiation of positionality.

This module is designed to explain the components of effective feedback and to provide evidence-based tips on how to give good feedback. It proposes different formats and frameworks for feedback sharing and receiving, and guides students on how to evaluate performances critically and constructively. Students are also supported in their receipt and implementation of feedback in a seamless way that does not hinder their creativity. In this module students engage with different methods and practices of feedback sharing. They learn how to give and receive feedback in efficient ways to enhance their research and weigh developmental forms. Lecturers:Steef Kersbergen, Dr Pavlos Kountouriotis

This module sees students engage in self-initiated processes towards the design, development, and delivery in their chosen area of research, culminating in the production towards their Exposition of Artistic Research (EAR) and the written dissemination of their research as thesis. Lecturers:Astarti Athanasiadou, Dr Anja Foerschner, external mentor (student choice)

This module sees students engage in self-initiated processes towards the design, development, and delivery a choreography research, culminating in the production towards their Exposition of Artistic Research (EAR) and the written dissemination of their research as thesis. Lecturers:Astarti Athanasiadou, Dr Anja Foerschner, external mentor (student choice)

Dramaturgical Practices is a year-long module that introduces students to dramaturgy as a critical technology of organisation situated at the intersection of art, communication, and management. Rather than asking what an artwork means, the module focuses on how it makes meaning, shifting the emphasis to the structural processes and the vital relationship between form and content. Students engage in studio-based workshops to experiment with various dramaturgical operations, including framing, world-building, participation, duration, and the gaze, while learning to "think like a dramaturg" from both inside and outside their own practice. Through methods such as reverse engineering—deconstructing and reconstructing seminal artworks—students refine their ability to compose meaningful acts of communication. The module ultimately culminates in the collaborative realisation of performance programmes, where students curate and present their research findings by meticulously applying the dramaturgical operations most pertinent to their artistic intentions.

Politics of Resisting Infrastructures serves as the culminating installment of the three-part "Political Contours of Performing" theory series, challenging students to transition from investigating representation and circulation to grappling with active resistance and intervention. This final module explores the tensions between radical artistic claims and institutional frames, specifically focusing on subverting infrastructures of power such as education and memory through concepts like fugitivity, critical fabulation, and unlearning. By bridging theoretical engagement with practical experiments in performative writing and diffractive methodologies, students learn to use their own writing practice as a strategic tool to counter disciplinary conventions and standard knowledge production. The module ultimately guides students to articulate a language unique to their practice, resulting in a diffractive glossary entry that maps their individual contribution to the field and sets the stage for future performance research.

This module sees students engage in self-initiated processes towards the design, development, and delivery a theatre practices research, culminating in the production towards their Exposition of Artistic Research (EAR) and the written dissemination of their research as thesis. Lecturers:Astarti Athanasiadou, Dr Anja Foerschner, external mentor (student choice)

Choreography: Embodied and Expanded probes an expanded notion of choreography, viewing it as a collaborative, ecosomatic, and (post)human practice that moves beyond traditional disciplinary bounds. The module challenges students to stretch the "choreographic" toward concepts like Chôrography and Choreo-graphic Figures, fostering a space to synthesise knowledge through somatic explorations and critical reflection. Students engage in a collective glossary project and a "lottery" of contemporary practices to map their own research urgencies and identify gaps in their dance-historical knowledge. By investigating multispecies worlds and microperformativity, the module guides researchers to develop a distinct personal vocabulary that resonates with today’s globalised and increasingly complex world.