The Palucca University is located in Dresden’s Strehlen district, adjacent to the Grosser Garten, a large city park. As of April 2007, the university campus comprises the main building on Basteiplatz, two villas at Tiergartenstrasse 78 and 80, and a modern building on the campus houses the secondary School, dance studios, the boarding school, library, physiotherapy center, and offices. Large glass areas give the modern architecture transparency and open it up to nature in its leafy surroundings, contributing to the university’s artistic climate. The concept reinforces our understanding of developing dance as an interdisciplinary art form. You can explore the campus with our virtual campus tour.
The main building houses the secondary school, including the rector’s office, the cafeteria, the fitness room, the costume department, and two dance studios. The cafeteria is on the ground floor, which also has a garden terrace. The fitness room is open to our school and university students. It is equipped with modern training apparatus for regular holistic muscle training. Costumes, props, and stage shoes for the entire university repertoire are tailored and stored in our costume and tailoring department.
The two-story villa contains offices and seminar rooms where dance theory and music are taught.
This villa accommodates the library and archive as well as some theory rooms. Internet-enabled computer workstations are available to the students. Material relating to the history of the Palucca University of Dance is stored here in the university archive.
The new building of the Palucca University was inaugurated in 2007; it contains nine dance studios. The two largest studios can be combined to form a theatre and used as a performance venue. The new building also houses an audio-visual studio with modern digital image and sound production technology. The Palucca University boarding school provides 75 places in 25 three-bedrooms. Each room accommodates two or three students and has an ensuite bathroom with a toilet, washbasin, and shower. A physiotherapy center for prophylactic and rehabilitation treatment is also located in this building. A unique tub is available for underwater jet massage.
Palucca founded her School in Dresden in 1925. Initially, she offered lessons in her apartment before later moving to rented premises. During the Nazi period, she was not allowed to teach free dance from 1936 onwards, and her school was closed down in 1939. In July 1945, soon after the end of the war, Palucca reopened her School in Dresden. It was nationalized in 1949 and granted the status of a technical school for artistic dance. Palucca invented the subject “new artistic dance,” enabling her to continue incorporating her dance style into the school syllabus. In the Russian style, classical ballet dominated the teaching in the Palucca School’s new building, built in Dresden in 1957.
After the peaceful revolution in the GDR, the School began to reflect on its traditions. A balanced education in the three pillars of Ballet, Contemporary Dance, and Improvisation became a permanent component of the School’s profile and is what sets it apart. In 1993 the Palucca Schule Dresden was accorded equal status with the Universities of the Arts. In 1999, with the coming into effect of the Free State of Saxony’s Law on Higher Education, the School became Germany’s first and so far only independent University of Dance. Extensive renovations and extensions started in 2004 and were completed with the new building extension, inaugurated in 2007.
Since August 2006, Canadian-born Jason Beechey has been Rector of the School. In 2010 the university changed its name to the Palucca University of Dance Dresden.
The curriculum rests on the three pillars of Ballet, Contemporary/Modern Dance, and Improvisation. The aim is to develop a common approach, breaking down the barriers between these techniques. The three pillars are developed over the whole period of study, with a full range of complementary subjects. Linking theory and practice enables the students to develop as autonomous, thinking creative artists who benefit from these techniques as the key to freedom.
The ballet traditions are steeped in the hierarchy, involving highly standardized physical demands and a rigid structure in technique, both in choreographic processes and in mentality. The Palucca University initially gave purely Vaganova-based ballet training, as did many institutions in Eastern Europe. Today the focus is on developing an approach to ballet unique to Palucca University, based on complementary work including Contemporary/Modern Dance and Improvisation. The approach is dialogue-based, influenced by current demands and developments in today’s dance world. Movement principles such as suspension and release, using a spiral dynamic, and working with resistance are commonplace in ballet training.
A full program of pointe work, pas de deux, and variations classes are included through all levels.
Contemporary/Modern Dance represents a wide range of different techniques and styles which generally stem from dance works and techniques developed in the 20th century. The roots of Contemporary/Modern Dance at Palucca University are in Free Dance. As the dance scene has evolved, Contemporary/Modern Dance as now taught at the Palucca University reflects Humphrey/Limon and release-based techniques, which follow a very individual, mixed approach. This method is unique to the university. The international faculty is ideally suited to promoting this approach, which is in sync with current dance scene developments.
TTI (Dance/Technique/Improvisation) is taught for the younger students, a combination of Contemporary/Modern Dance and Improvisation. Later these two areas are split into separate subjects and complemented by classes in floor work, repertoire, and partnering.
Improvisation classes explore various sources of inspiration, including the dimensions of time, space, weight, and the environment. Big or small, fast or slow, dramatic or neutral, to cite a few examples, are elements upon which improvisation can be built to learn to express their personality. The Palucca curriculum explores various techniques through which students are encouraged to involve their whole body, mind, and spirit.
TTI (Dance/Technique/Improvisation) is taught for the younger students, a combination of Contemporary/Modern Dance with Improvisation, which is later split into separate subjects. The students’ improvisational skills are also developed through composition, Laban Movement Analysis, Forsythe Improvisation Technologies, partnering, and contact improvisation jams.
VIDEOS
