Semester in Dance
About the Program
Dance Training from Creative Impulse
The Semester in Dance at the Accademia is a transformative study abroad experience designed for dancers ready to expand their artistic voice and creative process.
The program blends rigorous conservatory-style training with the freedom of artistic exploration in an international setting. Dancers engage in daily technique classes, somatic practices, and composition labs, all led by a diverse faculty of acclaimed European choreographers and performers. The Dance Program emphasizes experimentation, process-driven creation, and the development of original choreographic content.
Beyond training, dancers explore the intersection of dance with philosophy, theatre, music, and visual arts through interdisciplinary courses and collaborative projects. Rooted in contemporary dance research and practice, the program equips dancers with the creative tools and critical analysis to navigate the evolving landscape of global performance.
Whether in the studio or immersed in the cultural rhythms of Arezzo, dancers will discover a unique space to grow, question, and reimagine their practice.
Courses
Required
Embodied Technique: Foundations for Dance and Performance
This course offers a rigorous and holistic approach to preparing the body for the demands of dance and performance. Rooted in anatomical awareness and functional movement, dancers will strengthen technical skills while expanding physical range, precision, and control.
Through an integration of somatic practices, ballet, and contemporary dance technique, the course fosters deeper physical intelligence and internal movement exploration. Dancers are encouraged to engage with their bodies as expressive instruments, refining their technical foundation while cultivating a more embodied, creative, and responsive presence in performance.
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Vaganova Ballet Technique
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Contemporary and Modern Technique
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Somatics and Body-Mind Centering®
Cultural Dance Studies
This vibrant course invites dancers to explore powerful dance forms that bridge cultural heritage and contemporary performance. Through hands-on training dancers uncover how movement speaks to identity, community, and storytelling. Each style is rooted in a unique cultural context—ranging from the rhythmic fusion of African and European traditions to the powerful rituals of Southern Italy, the expressive freedom of early German modern dance, and the theatrical depth of dance-theatre hybrids.
Dancers gain not only technical and expressive skills but also a deeper understanding of dance as a cultural and embodied act. With guidance from expert faculty, they will sharpen their stage presence, expand their creative vocabulary, and cultivate the confidence to embody tradition with contemporary relevance.
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EurAfrican Dance
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Tarantella
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Ausdruckstanz
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Tanztheater
Choreographic Playground: Composition & Creation
This course invites dancers into an expansive and playful process of choreographic creation, where composition, improvisation, and performance collide. Using movement scores to ignite both body and imagination, dancers sharpen their physical awareness, expand their creative range, and learn to channel improvisation into structured, expressive work. Dancers develop physical and creative range while learning to shape ideas into performance.
Blurring the line between dancer and creator, the course fosters artistic autonomy, encouraging students to make bold choices and trust their creative instincts. Voice, text, and collaboration across disciplines deepen the process, turning the studio into a space of bold exploration and choreographic discovery. This is a challenging, kinetic “playground” where physical intelligence meets conceptual exploration, and where performance becomes a personal, powerful act of authorship.
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Contemporary Dance Composition
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Choreography Lab
Italian Language and Culture
This hybrid course offers an immersive introduction to Italian language and culture through a blend of online and in class instruction as well as in-person experiences in the historic city of Arezzo and other culturally significant places around Italy. Artists will develop practical language skills in speaking, listening, reading, and writing, while gaining cultural fluency through direct engagement with local customs, traditions, and daily life.
Online sessions provide structured language learning and cultural context, while in-person classes and guided explorations and experiences bring the language to life. From navigating local markets to engaging with Italian cinema, cuisine, art, and community, artists apply their learning in real-world settings.
No prior knowledge of Italian is required. The course is ideal for artists looking to build conversational proficiency and cultural insight in a dynamic, hands-on environment.
Those who have taken more than 2 semesters of Italian may choose to take the Advanced Italian Course.
Choose one of the following
Social Change and the Avant Garde
This interdisciplinary course explores how radical shifts in 19th- and 20th-century society shaped—and were shaped by—the Avant-Garde. From Futurism’s obsession with speed to Dada’s reaction to industrialized war and Surrealism’s embrace of Freudian theory, artists examine how this movement challenged aesthetic, philosophical, and cultural norms.
Through manifestos, literature, film, performance, music, and visual art, artists investigate the revolutionary spirit of the historical Avant-Gardes and their lasting impact on contemporary culture. Key questions include: What made the Avant-Garde truly original? How did they fuse art with revolution? And how critically did they engage with the emerging culture industry?
Gender Politics & Feminist Theories in Performance
This course investigates how performance intersects with gender politics, feminist theory, and activism. Artists engage with key feminist and queer thinkers while exploring performance as a tool to challenge power, identity, and representation.
Through analysis and creative practice, the course examines topics like embodiment, intersectionality, queer and trans performance, and decolonial feminist strategies. Artists develop their own feminist-informed work, discovering how performance can resist dominant narratives and imagine new futures.
