Apply to Master’s Degree Programme in Dance Performance

Published 30.10.2020 | Updated 29.10.2024

Important Dates

● The application period starts on 8 January 2025

● The application period ends at 3 pm (Finnish time) on 22 January 2025
– Complete and submit the application form via Studyinfo

● Submit appendices before 29 January 2025, 3 pm (Finnish time)
– Send the advance assignments via the Studyinfo application form
– Send required certificates (education and language proficiency) through the Studyinfo application form

● You will be notified of the results of your eligibility check by email by the end of February

● You will be notified of the results of the assessment of the advance assignments during week 14 at the latest

● The entrance examinations will take place online
– week 14 – 28 April 2025 (assignments are given by e-mail and assignments are submitted in Studyinfo)
– 12 May – 14 May 2025, 15 May is reserve (applicant participates on two days and, if necessary, on reserve date)

● The results of the student selections will be published on 28 May 2025, 9 am (Finnish time)

● No later than 10 July 2025, 3 pm (Finnish time)
– Accept the study place and enrol at the university
– Pay the tuition fee (if required)
– Send the certificate of your completed degree (if you have been selected conditionally)

Length of study and the language of the degree

• Length of study: 2 years
• Language of degree: Finnish or English

Degree granting eligibility to apply

You can apply for Master’s Degree Programme in Dance Performance if you have:

1. completed a higher education degree in Finland and your degree includes at least 60 ECTS credits worth of studies in dance or performing arts
   
   
2. completed a higher education degree (bachelor level) abroad, which in the country concerned grants eligibility to undertake equivalent higher education studies at master’s level, and your degree comprises at least 60 ECTS credits worth of studies in dance or performing arts
   
   OR
   
   
3. if you have acquired sufficient knowledge and competence, as determined by the Theatre Academy, on the basis of your studies and work experience in the field. In this case, you must have completed at least 60 ECTS credits worth of higher education studies in dance or performing arts or a supporting field *) by the end of the application period. In addition, we require professional work experience in the field of dance that is equivalent to 120 credits (equal to two years of full-time work) **).
   This option is intended for applicants with an incomplete undergraduate degree or applicants who have completed other higher education studies in the arts, such as studies at the Open University. 

*) Studies in dance or performing arts or their supporting studies may include other studies in arts, culture, humanities or social sciences that justifiably support working as a dance artist.

**) Work experience refers particularly to artistic work, research work and performance activities.

One ECTS credit is equivalent to an average of 27 hours of student work.

Attachments required to verify eligibility

You must provide a translation of the certificate appendices by a professional translator, if they are not in Finnish, Swedish or English. Name documents: lastname_firstname_document name

If you are applying under eligibility criterion 1, attach to your application:

1. Degree certificate
2. Transcript of records
3. Record of the required higher education studies in dance or performing arts amounting to at least 60 ECTS credits. Provide the title, scope and content description of the study unit (on the higher education institution website or Study Guide – only providing a heading is not sufficient).

If you are applying under eligibility criterion 2, attach to your application:

1. Degree certificate
2. Transcript of records
3. When applying with a foreign degree:
– submit a Diploma Supplement (degree obtained at a higher education institution in Europe) or
– if the degree is not a Bachelor obtained at a university, submit a certificate from the educational institution where you have completed the degree that states you are eligible to apply for university-level Master’s degree studies in the country in question.
4. Record of the required higher education studies in dance or performing arts amounting to at least 60 ECTS credits. Provide the title, scope and content description of the study unit (on the higher education institution website or Study Guide – only providing a heading is not sufficient).

If you are applying under eligibility criterion 3, attach to your application:

1. Transcript of records of the required higher education studies in dance or performing arts or a supporting field amounting to at least 60 ECTS credits.
2. Record of the required higher education studies in dance or performing arts or a supporting field amounting to at least 60 ECTS credits. Provide the title, scope and content description of the study unit (on the higher education institution website or Study Guide – only providing a heading is not sufficient).
3. Record of at least two years of full-time work in the field of dance.
Report your work experience:
– employer/working group and level of professionalism (e.g. professional theatre, free professional group, professional AV project)
– production
– job description
– venue
– rehearsal period
– number of performances 

Assessment of eligibility

Your eligibility to apply will be assessed on the basis of your application, certificates and other reports. If your application and the supporting documents meet the minimum requirements, your application will proceed to an academic evaluation. You will be notified of the results of your eligibility check by email no later than week 9.

Conditional selection

Some applicants are selected conditionally. If your higher education degree has still been incomplete during the application phase, you must submit the degree certificate and a transcript of records detailing the studies you have completed to the Admissions Services by 10 July 2025, 3 pm (Finnish time). You can only register for the academic year after this.

If you do not submit a degree certificate by the deadline, you will lose the study place offered to you.

Supplementary studies

If you are accepted without a lower university degree, you may be required to complete supplementary studies in addition to the minimum amount of credits required in the degree programme in order to acquire the competence needed during the studies. The scope of supplementary studies may not exceed 60 credits.

In principle, complementary studies must be completed in the first year of study, and they must be included in the student’s personal study plan. You will be informed of any additional studies required in connection with the admission decision.

The supplementary studies required are usually language studies.

Applying for transfer from another university

Applicants who are refugees or in a refugee-like situation

Language requirements

The language of degree in the Master’s Degree Programme in Dance Performance is Finnish or English. The language of study is Finnish and/or English.

The programme admits students who study in either Finnish or English. If the programme admits new students to study in English, the group teaching will be offered in English to the entire class. 

In order to become accepted as a degree student, you must, in the application phase, demonstrate the language proficiency required by the studies in accordance with the language of instruction. You can demonstrate your language proficiency by previous education, an acceptable language test, or other previous studies.

You must demonstrate sufficient language proficiency by 29 January 2025, 3 pm (Finnish time). Attach a degree certificate or a language test certificate to the application form submitted via Studyinfo.
Name your file: lastname_firstname_document, such as: lastname_firstname_toefl

If you demonstrate your language proficiency with a language test and you do not receive your language test certificate by 29 January 2025 at 3 pm (Finnish time), we will also accept written preliminary test scores notification of the approved test result, if one is available. The preliminary test result must also be uploaded to the application form on 29 January 2025 by 3 pm (Finnish time).

Study languages and the language of the degree in Theatre Academy

Tuition fee

Tuition fees at Uniarts Helsinki are applicable to Bachelor’s and Master’s students who study in English and who are not citizens of EU, EEA, or Switzerland. In the academic year 2025-2026 the amount of the fee is 12,000 euros.

In the 2025 student admissions of the Theatre Academy of Uniarts Helsinki, tuition fees will apply to applicants applying to one of our English-speaking degree programmes;

• Master’s Degree Programme in Comparative Dramaturgy and Performance Research (double-degree)
• Master’s Degree Programme in Choreography
• Master’s Degree Programme in Live Art and Performance Studies
• Master’s Degree Programme in Dance Performance
• Master’s Studies in Directing

The tuition fee is to be paid no later than 10 July 2025 at 3pm. (Finnish time). Students are required to pay the annual tuition fee in order to register for attendance and complete studies and to obtain a residence permit.

Assessment criteria

The assessment criteria for the advance assignments and the entrance examinations:

• knowledge and artistic abilities in the field of dance
• ability to reflect artistic activity
• ability to understand the frames of assignments and to articulate creatively out of them
• creativity and variety of expression
• collaboration and interaction skills
• motivation and commitment
• suitability for higher education studies in dance performance
  

Advance assignments

No further explanation or more detailed information will be available on the advance assignments. The advance assignments may be completed in Finnish, Swedish or English. Mark your name on each assignment. Submit all text files in pdf format.

1. An essay

Write an essay that describes the key themes and questions related to your current work as a dancer and artist that you would like to work with in the Master’s Programme. Open the themes and questions you have selected and link your thinking to a broader context using at least 2 sources, such as artworks or texts, and include the appropriate references. In your essay, also explain why you are applying for this Master’s Programme and what you expect from your studies. 

Essay length: 2–3 sheets (A4) of typed text, font size 12, line spacing 1.5
Name your file: lastname_ firstname_essay

2. Video sample

Make a 5 min video sample with two parts.
In the first part (a), work with movement, on one of the themes or questions you presented in the essay for 3 min. Make the video as a single shot so that the result corresponds to a live situation. Choose the lighting and video angle so that your entire activity is seen as well as possible. 
In the second part (b), explain verbally your work in video a for 2 min. Tell how and with what you worked? Make the video in one shot.   

Merge the two videos together into a one 5-minute sample. Do not edit or modify the videos in any other way. Name your file: lastname_firstname_video

3. Portfolio

Prepare a digital portfolio presenting your artistic work. Include video/video links of your previous work as a dancer/performer in the portfolio. In addition to videos, the portfolio may also contain photos and/or text. Name your file: lastname_ firstname_portfolio

The advance assignments are evaluated, and the first round of selections is carried out on the basis of them. Advance assignments are part of the entrance examination assignments and affect the applicant’s final overall assessment.

How to apply

You can find Master’s Degree Programme in Dance Performance on the Studyinfo portal under the name of;
Master’s Admission: Dance Performance, Master of Arts in Dance (2 yr)

1. Complete and submit an online application form: The first joint application to higher education, Spring 2025

Complete and submit an online application form at the Studyinfo portal by 22 January 2025 at 3 pm (Finnish time). The application period is from 8 January to 22 January 2025.

After you have submitted the application, you will receive a confirmation email to the address you have given on the application form. The email contains a link to the application, you can add attachments to your application within the deadline.

2. Submit advance assignments and appendices

Submit advance assignments and appendices via Studyinfo portal by 29 January 2025 at 3 pm (Finnish time).

• Advance assignments
  
• Documents demonstrating your educational background required for eligibility verification
  
• Demonstration of language proficiency
  
• Document that proves exemption from tuition fees
  If you are applying to study in English, and you come from an EU/EEA country or Switzerland, you are to submit documentation (e.g. a copy of your passport) that shows you are exempt from tuition fees.

Submitting material in the Studyinfo portal

After completing the electronic application form in the Studyinfo.fi system, submit the advance assignments and other required material by the specified deadline to Uniarts Helsinki through the Studyinfo application form. You can complete your application with attachments either in the My Studyinfo service (if you have Finnish online bank user identifiers) or through the edit link in the confirmation email you have received.

Before downloading the material to the application, check that the material opens and functions as intended. Also, before submitting the application, check that you have downloaded all necessary attachments to your application.

Name the files according to the assignment instructions. Do not use Scandinavian characters (å, ä, ö) or special characters when naming the files.

Studyinfo supports the most common standardized image, audio, video, document and text files. Especially in media files (video, audio), attention should be paid to the fact that the file format is recorded according to the standard. The extension of an attachment may change when uploaded to the form to match the actual format of the file.

The Studyinfo system accepts the following audio / video / document / image formats:

• Audio – mp3, m4a, aiff, wma, wav, aac
• Video – mpeg, mpg, mp4, mov, avi, wmv, m4v, vob, qt (we recommend format mp4)
• Document – all text files are to be delivered in pdf format
• Image – jpeg, png, gif, jpg

The maximum file size allowed is 1 GB.

Make sure your computer and Internet browser are up to date. Use a stable Internet connection to upload the materials. Make sure your computer does not go into power saving mode when the uploading is in progress.

The sender is responsible for submitting the application (application form, advance assignments, attachments).

Advance assignments that are only partially loaded or incomplete will be rejected. Advance assignments sent by email or as an email attachment will not be processed.

Upload the materials to the system as early as possible

Large files may take several hours to upload when the system is busy. To speed up the uploading of videos, for example, you can compress the video file. Begin uploading the materials well in advance of the deadline.

Submitting material via systems outside of Studyinfo

We recommend that you upload your material directly to the Studyinfo portal. If the assignment includes sensitive data, it is especially important to use Studyinfo for submitting the assignment.

If you want to share a link that leads to a system outside of the Studyinfo portal (e.g. Youtube, Vimeo, Soundcloud) due to the risk of high upload traffic on the Studyinfo server, for example, the link must be uploaded to Studyinfo as a pdf file (e.g. as part of a work portfolio, or as a separate file that only includes the link/links).

The assignment must be uploaded by the set date, after which it is no longer possible to edit it.

If the link leads to a system outside of the Studyinfo portal, the url must be original, and not a shortened link made with a url shortener service. The link must lead directly to the assignment and not, for example, to a compilation page with more links. Make sure that the link works throughout the entire admissions round and that the assignments are marked as private in the system settings (privacy settings: “Password“ or “Unlisted“ for Vimeo, “Unlisted” for YouTube, and “Private” for Soundcloud). You can choose to add password protection to the file, in which case the password must be sent to Uniarts Helsinki in addition to the link (in this case contact Theatre Academy’s Admissions Office).

The assignment must remain stored in the system in question at least 6 months after the end of the application period.

Uniarts Helsinki is not responsible for the data security risks, potential copyright infringements, muting of copy-protected audio tracks, or terms of use of systems offered by third parties. Note that third parties usually save information on user profiles and use this information for advertising, market research and/or other commercial purposes.

Any problems?

If you encounter problems, please contact teak.admissions@uniarts.fi.

Student selections

You will be notified of the results of your eligibility check by email no later than week 9.

The selection process occurs in two phases. You are not required to travel to Helsinki at any point of the selection process. The second phase of entrance examination is done remotely.

Those who have passed the first phase based on their advance assignments will be sent invitations to phase 2 by e-mail in week 14. Applicants not considered eligible based on the advance assignments will also be notified via e-mail.

Phase 1 of the entrance examination

Submitting an online application form, advance assignments and appendices in Studyinfo portal

Phase 2 of the entrance examination

Includes 1-2 independent video assignments and a group assignment and interview done in Zoom. Video assignments will be given in week 14 (31 March-6 April) and returned on 28 April 2025.

The Zoom assignment and interview will take place on 12–14 May according to an individual schedule. 15 May is a reserve day. The applicant must be prepared to be present on two different days and, if necessary, on the reserve day. The set entrance examination times assigned to applicants will not be changed.

The group assignments will take place in English. The individual assignments can be carried out in Finnish, Swedish or English.  

More information about entrance examinations and assessment

Individual arrangements in the entrance examination

Announcement of results

The Theatre Academy will publish the entrance examination results on 7 and 28 May 2025. Results are published in the Studyinfo portal and on the Uniarts Helsinki website. When you fill in your application form you can choose to not allow your name to be published online.

Results will be published on 7 May, 9 am (Finnish time):

• Master’s Studies in Acting (in Finnish)
• Master’s Studies in Directing
• Master’s Studies in Lighting Design
• Master’s Studies in Scenography
• Master’s Studies in Sound Design
• Master’s Degree Programme in Choreography
• Master’s Degree Programme in Comparative Dramaturgy and Performance Research (double-degree)
• Master’s Degree Programme in Live Art and Performance Studies
• Master’s Degree Programme in Writing

Results will be published on 28 May, 9 am (Finnish time):

• Degree Programme in Acting (in Finnish)
• Degree Programme in Directing
• Degree Programme in Dramaturgy and Playwriting
• Degree Programme in Lighting Design
• Degree Programme in Scenography
• Degree Programme in Sound Design
• Master’s Degree Programme in Dance Performance

Applicants admitted as students and those placed on the waiting list receive an email of the admissions results on the day when the admission decision is published. Other applicants are not notified about the results by email.

You can also enquire the results by sending an e-mail to Admissions Services.

Number of new students and a waiting list

How to request for rectification

Accepting an offer of admission

Please indicate whether you will accept the study place no later than 10 July 2025, 3pm (Finnish time).

If you have a Finnish personal identity code, accept the study place in the MyStudyinfo service.

If you do not have a Finnish personal identity code, the Studyinfo.fi system will send you an email message. This message contains a link that you can use to accept the study place. You will receive this email within 24 hours of the announcement of admissions results.

Your notification regarding the acceptance of a study place is binding. However, if you wish to give up a study place after first accepting it, you will be considered to have accepted a place of study for the term in question (see the provision for one study place per term).

If you do not accept a study place by the deadline, you will lose the study place offered to you.

Applicants who are liable for annual tuition fee payment

Applicants who are liable for annual tuition fee payment are to pay the fee in connection with the acceptance of a study place no later than 10 July 2025 at 3pm (Finnish time). Students are required to pay the annual tuition fee in order to begin the residence permit process, register for attendance at the university and complete studies.

Enrollment

New students will receive instructions for enrollment together with the letter of admission results.

Registering as absent for the first year of studies

Starting your studies

Students admitted in the Joint Application of spring 2025 will begin their studies in August 2025.

Help and advice

Do you have a question about applying?

You can contact us via email or phone.

Email: teak.admissions@uniarts.fi
Phone: +358 50 349 6672