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In Year 7 & 8 students cover a range of different Dance topics to introduce them to the fundamentals of Dance.
In Year 7 students study topics including: Dance and World Issues, Popular Dance through the Decades, Musical Theatre and Developing Skills and Techniques for Live Performance which culminates in our annual performance ‘Dance Fest’ every July. In Year 8 students study: Street Dance – Child Soldiers, Contact Work, Set Dance, Choreography: Falling (using a poetry stimulus) and a progressively challenging Developing Skills and Techniques for live performance, again resulting in performances in Dance Fest.
At Key Stage 4 we offer AQA GCSE Dance. The aim of GCSE Dance is to provide students with the knowledge, skills and understanding of the subject through creating, performing, rehearsing and appraising dance. 60% of the GCSE is through Performance and Choreography and 40% is through a written Dance Appreciation exam.
Students develop skills and knowledge progressively across the three years, interleaving schemes of learning, and ultimately working towards their practical coursework and written examination elements of the course detailed below.
Students will be required to learn four technically demanding set dances and will be assessed on two of these through a solo performance where students will be
assessed on both their physical and technical skills. Students will then develop the remaining two set phrases into a duet/trio performance where they will be assessed on their expressive skills. This will be a minimum of three minutes in duration. Students must also learn how to respond creatively to an externally set stimulus and will choreograph a group dance where they will teach and direct the peers in their group. This will be a minimum of three minutes in length. All exam work is filmed and moderated in front of a live audience.
Questions for the exam are based on students' knowledge and understanding of their own practice in performance and choreography alongside critical appreciation of 6 professional works from the dance anthology ranging from styles of Street to Contemporary.
At Key Stage 5, we offer a BTEC Extended Certificate in Dance.
Choreography and performance are at the heart of our course. “Investigating Practitioners Work” helps our students develop analytical skills that are essential when studying Dance at university. “Developing Skills and Techniques for Live Performance” and “Group Performance Workshop”, are assessed through live performances at internal and external events such as Breakout and Trinity Dance Festival and include work in a variety of dance styles including contemporary and jazz. Technique is refined through “Developing Contemporary Dance” where students will be challenged with Cunningham, Graham, Horton and Release based techniques. Assessment for this course is predominantly practical and students will need to collect evidence of their work for a portfolio.
This portfolio will include film and photographs of technique lessons, progress logs, research, programmes from shows visited, etc. Students will also be set essays, research tasks and presentations. There will also be externally assessed units and this will be through practical work, portfolios and examinations.