Bachelor of Fine Arts (Dance)

Important! Please make sure you have read the How to Apply information for this course prior to reading the audition requirements below.

Audition dates

2025 Start Year Intake

  • Recorded auditions must be submitted via Slideroom no later than Wednesday 2 October 2024
  • Callback auditions (for shortlisted applicants) will take place in Melbourne on Saturday 16 and Sunday 17 November.

Early Auditions

An early audition opportunity will be available in Brisbane for talented dancers interested in joining the Bachelor of Fine Arts (Dance) at the University of Melbourne's Victorian College of the Arts (VCA) in 2025:

  • Brisbane, 26 September 2024, 10am-1pm
    Coral Studio, Promenade Dance Studio
    26 Glentanna Street, Kedron.

To register for an audition and find out more, please email your name, contact details and age to nicole.corea@unimelb.edu.au.

Audition requirements

All applicants must submit a recorded audition portfolio. We highly recommend you have prior training in contemporary dance and other dance techniques including those of non-Western lineages.

The video audition involves submitting four short video files:

  • Short introduction talking to the camera
  • One minute solo
  • Set movement phrase

Detailed video audition guidelines will be available to applicants in the supplementary application form.

Preparing and Recording Your Audition

  • Perform in a safe environment, and use the space you have available to you: ideally on a smooth floor in a volume of space with no obstacles. Understandably, not all applicants may not have access to a large dance space during these times.
  • It is not an expectation that you access or purchase additional recording equipment beyond a basic smartphone, iPad, or laptop/desktop device. For smartphones, many recent models already have very good microphones built-in.
  • Make sure you are well-lit and can be seen clearly; you may wish to ask a friend or relative to record you or use a tripod or video stand.
  • Please keep your head and feet in the video at all times.
  • Do not use filters or effects, please keep editing to a minimum.

Callback Audition

Shortlisted applicants from the recorded audition submissions will be invited to attend a callback audition. Callbacks will be conducted at the Southbank campus and additionally online via Zoom Web Conferencing, for those unable to attend in person.

Please note that applicants will not be advantaged, nor disadvantaged, in selection by attending either an in-person or an online callback audition.

How will I be assessed?

Audition

You will be assessed against the following criteria by the selection panel:

  • Evidence of advanced skills in physical thinking
  • Embodied literacy in diverse styles and approaches to dance practice and performance
  • Kinaesthetic awareness of self
  • Ability to contribute to the creative process
  • Creative autonomy and agency.

Group Workshop & Interview

In the callback workshop and interview, shortlisted applicants will be assessed on:

  • Ability to collaborate with others
  • Responses to tasks in a group setting
  • Capacity to move with spatial awareness and sensitivity to others
  • Interest and motivation for undertaking the course
  • Ability to articulate dance goals and have insight into how to achieve these
  • Understanding of dance as an art form and its significance and potential in the cultural and arts field and in relation to other arts.