The Department of Contemporary Dance at UGD is led by the Dean of the Film Academy, Full-time Professor, Risima Risimkin, PhD. This study program opened in September 2017.
The curriculum of the program was adopted in Macedonia through the Intertart Cultural Center, which in 2008 signed a Memorandum of Understanding with the Rotterdam Dance Academy at CODARTS University in Rotterdam, the Netherlands. The expertise was undertaken for a period of three years, from 2010 to 2013, with the support of the Embassy of the Kingdom of the Netherlands in the Republic of Macedonia. This program is unique in Macedonia and the region, after the determination to produce contemporary dancers. Students of the Dance Department at UGD could rehearse in Skopje Dance Theater that gives them the opportunity to upgrade and perform in professional productions and guest appearances at prestigious festivals around the world.
At the Department of Contemporary Dance, in the first cycle of studies, where there are study programs for contemporary dance performance in Macedonian and English, teaching program is led by prof. Risima Risimkin PhD; assistant Adrijana Dancevska and Dejan Bitrovski and Anastasia Dancevska as professional associates. In the study programs of the second cycle of studies in English, in addition to the already mentioned professors, the lectures are given by prof. Antonio Kitanovski, MA and Blagoj Micevski, MA.
The first cycle study program is based on a three-year first cycle study in English, for which students receive a diploma - a graduate contemporary dancer and 180 credits. Upon completion of the first cycle, students can continue their education from the second cycle of teaching, performing arts, with the possibility of a master's degree in Contemporary Dance Choreography or a master's degree in Contemporary Dance Education. The study programs for the second cycle of studies can be extended in duration up to one, 60 credits or two years, 120 credits, depending on the previous education of the prospective students.
The teaching, from the season 2021/2022, takes place in the premises of UGD in the Home of the ARM in the center of Skopje.
Students of the Department of Contemporary Dance receive their internship in cooperation with the Skopje Dance Theater and they perform around the country and abroad at prestigious festivals in Europe, USA, and China. The UGD Dance Department is connected to an informal network of nine European academies and dance universities.
