MA STUDIOS 2027–2029

MA STUDIOS is a two-year Master’s program for dance makers and performers interested in a research-based studio practice in contemporary dance and choreography.

INTRO

Contrary to earlier communication, MA STUDIOS will not begin in September 2026, but will instead start in 2027. Due to the difficult and uncertain financial context at the Flemish Government, our main funding body, P.A.R.T.S. has been obliged to postpone the STUDIOS program. The exact timing of the launch can only be determined once there is clarity regarding the financial resources within the management agreement for the period 2027–2031 with the Ministry of Education. For this reason, the programme has been deferred to 2027. We will keep you informed about the new audition dates and the revised start date.

MA STUDIOS 2027-29

MA STUDIOS is a two-year Master’s program for dance makers and performers interested in a research-based studio practice in contemporary dance and choreography. We consider contemporary dance as an open-ended field in continuous development, embracing transnational practices that seek diverse expressions, meanings, and values. More than an enclosed space for developing skills and experiments, studio practice opens onto the messy realities beyond its walls. In a similarly generative sense, choreography is the grammar underlying the movement of bodies within environments.

For its third edition (2027–2029), MA STUDIOS will explore relational and environmental dimensions of collaboration—understood not only as integral to every creative process but also, in a broader sense, as a site for social and political in(ter)vention.

We take a broad and multifaceted view of collaboration as:
• Sharing authorship and ownership across diverse roles within a project or working context;
• Generously studying together and exchanging resources, skills, knowledge, time and space;
• Cooperating within the institutional framework of P.A.R.T.S., related institutions, the landscape in Brussels and beyond;
• Taking collective responsibility for everyone’s well-being.

How do we navigate differences in capacities, experiences and lineages in order to enrich an ecosystem of artistic work and collective study in dance, as well as the society in which it is embedded? This challenge forms the basis of a pedagogical experiment: PARTS invites applicants who are already working together or seeking new alliances to apply to a program that aims at collaborative outcomes.

THEMATIC LINES OF INQUIRY

This edition offers a timely focus on creative processes that extend beyond the horizon of the individual artist as single author. It invites research and reflection along several interconnected notions and questions:

Relations > physical, material, social, historical, environmental, mutual, multiple—that condition, sustain, mediate, or emerge from an artistic practice, even when it appears to carry an individual signature.

Ecosystem > a dynamic context in which people, materials, places, times, and more-than-human entities are interdependent and interact in complex ways; a space where individuals not only act, but also support, hold space for, or serve as a resource for both human and non-human endeavors; where skills, resources, and energies are exchanged and circulated rather than exploited and exhausted.

Lineage > an attentiveness to divergent lines of descent, where exploring the past may shape a potential history within an unfinished present.

Potentials of a ‘we’ > what becomes possible insofar as we do not act alone?

As a frame for the program, these lines of thought offer a broad framework—rather than a strict theme—within which participants and guest artists can shape their own trajectories. They are meant to leave plenty of room for participants to explore their own directions and shape their collaborations in ways that are artistically and socially fruitful to them.

FACILITIES

P.A.R.T.S. is located in Forest, housed in premises shared with the dance company Rosas and the contemporary music ensemble Ictus, with whom it also collaborates and shares resources. The building includes the Rosas Performance Space, which regularly hosts dance performances in Brussels.

For the MA STUDIOS program P.A.R.T.S. provides three brand new dedicated studio spaces. The campus provides a vibrant social and artistic context and opportunities for collaboration and exchange. P.A.R.T.S. organises the BA Training programme (40 students) actively collaborates with the partners on campus such as Rosas, Ictus, Platform K, Accompany class, Workspace Brussels and others.

P.A.R.T.S. also has strong connections and partnerships with cultural venues and the artistic scene in Brussels and Belgium. The program includes shorter and longer working periods in other institutions, as well as a longer study trip outside Europe.

PREVIOUS GUEST TEACHERS

To give you an idea of the scope and diversity of approaches and activities, here is a list of guests P.A.R.T.S