Dance
Dance encourages students to develop their creative, physical and collaborative skills. It provides a varied and inclusive learning experience, allowing aspiring dancers to develop their talents as well as challenging them to push boundaries.
Dance is compulsory for students in Years 7 and 8, and focuses upon three distinct disciplines: Choreography, Performance and Appreciation. Students will gain the skills necessary to become independent thinkers, problem solvers, presenters, and collaborators whilst developing resilience, communication and confidence.
Our annual St Bart’s Dance Showcase is a highlight of the calendar. The evening is a celebration of the St Bart’s dance community and includes the performance of a variety of works from across our different year groups, including exam pieces and work by the Bart’s Dance Company (BDC) and Junior Bart’s Dance (JBD)*. The evening is created and performed by the students and is a popular event in the school year.
Students also perform in ‘Spring Equinox’, a dance platform held at Newbury Corn Exchange that celebrates dance from West Berkshire schools, youth dance companies, community projects and specialist performing arts colleges. We also participate in ‘Ignite the Stage’ at Arlington Arts, which is a charity event showcasing the arts being practiced in schools and the community.
*Bart’s Dance Company was founded by the Dance Department to support students looking to continue their dance journey at highly competitive dance schools. The Company comprises Year 9, GCSE and A Level St Bart’s students, all of whom audition for a coveted place.
In Years 7 and 8 students are on a rotation with Drama therefore experience 3 units of Dance with 1 hour lesson a week. Students then choose whether to follow Dance as a Year 9 option. There is a focus on technical skills of Actions, Space, Dynamics and Relationships.
Year 7 Curriculum
Year 7 students will explore Actions, Space, Dynamics and Relationships in detail to choreograph their own motifs in groups. Alongside this, students also learn the basic routines of performance and appreciation by reflecting on their own and others’ work. Year 7 analyse and respond to different types of stimuli which covers different dance styles, cultures and current affairs.
In Year 7 you will have a chance to explore 3 units of work:
- Introduction to Dance (Learning the fundamentals of safe practice and choreographing a motif using chance, actions and space)
- Nutcracker (Using a professional Dance work to explore skills in characterisation and expression)
- Dance Around the World (Learning how appreciate dances from other cultures and how it can enrich our own practice)
Year 8 Curriculum
In Year 8 students expand on skills learnt in Year 7, gaining knowledge and understanding of how to develop their work, using more complex stimuli, analysing professional works, choreographic devices, deeper reflection on practical skills and choreographic processes and approaches.
In Year 8, you will have a chance to explore 3 units of work:
- Music Videos (Creating dance commercial dance works for video where students learn and practice their choreographic skills)
- Musical Theatre (Exploring how dance is used in musical theatre and continuing to develop their performance skills)
- Young Men by BalletBoyz (Learning how to use different choreographic approaches and devices in response to the professional work Young Men by Ballet Boyz)
Year 9 Curriculum
In Year 9 students may select Dance as a subject option with 2 lessons a week throughout the year. Students will recap, rehearse and refine Year 7 and 8 material through Choreography, Performance and Appreciation, as well as starting to explore elements of the GCSE Dance specification.
Appreciation will be explored both practically and theoretically allowing students to independently analyse and evaluate work. Students will participate in workshops to develop their technical skills to become more rounded dancers in a variety of styles. Students will have opportunities to participate in internal and external projects to gain a better understanding of dance elements and pathways. Throughout the year, there will be a focus on responding to varied and challenging types of stimuli and exploring different choreographic approaches and processes.
The following units of work are explored:
- Set Phrase Solos (Focus on learning taught phrases and choreographing own actions to create solo dance pieces)
- Using a Stimulus (Understanding how to choreograph motifs using different types of stimuli, choreographic approaches and processes)
- Movement and Music (Learning the different types of aural setting to enhance your creative choreographies)
- Shadows (Learning how to appreciate a professional Dance work and how we can use it as a starting point for choreography)
- Hunger Games (Learning how use our expressive skills to create better performances)
- Site Sensitive (Exploring movement outside the studio, the process of choreographing in different locations and for camera)
Where might it lead?
A Level Dance can help open doors to careers such as:
- Actor
- Arts Administrator
- Choreographer
- Community Arts
- Costume Designer
- Dance Movement Psychotherapist
- Dancer
- Lecturer
- Personal Trainer
- Stage Designer
- Teacher
- Make-up Artist
