“ESD is a higher education centre for the artistic, technical and scientific, cultural, and professional training, entrusted with the preparation for the exercise of highly qualified professional activities in the Dance domains and the promotion of the development of activities and professions related with Dance.”
(Order No. 11625/2010, Article 2, Statutes for the Lisbon School of Dance)

 The School of Dance (ESD) is an independent unit of the Polytechnic University of Lisbon (IPL) whose activities focus on higher education pertaining to Dance.

ESD responds to the transformations of the educational, artistic and professional landscape with a constant upgrading of its faculty, alongside a close relationship with the national and international artistic and educational community. It brings artistic projects, protocols and exchanges to life and promotes the creation or adaptability of their courses based on the needs and challenges posed within the context of dance.

Thus, ESD has the following general goals:

• Contributing to the technical and aesthetic development of dance in Portugal;
• Participating in the process of creating and systematizing knowledge as assigned to the various artistic schools of higher education;
• Maintaining privileged contacts within the Portuguese and international professional environments of dance, namely through cooperation with professional companies and with dance educational institutions, and adopting an attitude of openness, cooperation and exchange with the remaining branches of artistic knowledge.

Being an ESD student means a full-time dedication to the Art of Dance, to intensive technical training, to the search for personal forms of expression in choreographic creation, to engagement with the performance, as an interpreter or a producing partner, to learning and experimenting methods of teaching adequate to the intended goals and target ages and techniques. All this, with the privilege of participating in group work with students and professors committed to cooperation, as well as of accessing facilities and equipment which, while not yet definitive, meet exceptional standards at the national level.

ESD provides its students with a valuable personal, social, and professional educational experience, widely recognized and certified by a degree or an academic diploma, which will allow for adequate insertion to the job market.