Dance is the language of movement. The ability to communicate and give expression to social and personal experience through the medium of dance has been explored throughout history and in different cultures. Dance at Year 9 is designed to develop students’ understanding and appreciation of dance as an art form as well as developing their technical and physical skills through practical dance sessions. The year-long curriculum is broken down into three main areas:
Students are introduced to basic dance concepts and begin by exploring the reasons and purpose of dance in education and differing community contexts. Students are introduced to Safe Dance Practices and the importance of warming up. They begin to develop their physical skills in dance by attending practical dance sessions in a mixture of dance styles. Students are introduced to the basics of choreography, in particular the Movement Categories and the Element of Space. They complete their first learnt routine reinforcing the above principles.
Students are introduced to the Modes of Dance Making through composition and learnt work tasks. Their learnt works focuses on dance organisation, in particular the use of Group Structures and formations. They begin to research and explore a range of dance styles both physically and in their written work. They are introduced to and begin to explore the element of Time. Students will begin to learn about dance analysis and documentation.
Students are introduced to the choreographic fundamentals of developing dance themes and an intention. This is done through structured improvisation tasks, learnt works and small group dance making activities that draw on the knowledge and skills learnt in the previous units.
Students investigate Musical Theatre and the history and development of this popular style. They will explore the element of Stagecraft (costume, set, lighting, make-up) and create, rehearse and perform a group dance based on Musical Theatre for an intended audience. Students will continue to develop their dance analysis and documentation skills. This unit culminates in a performance of all their dance pieces created throughout the year.
Practical units are assessed with regular feedback, often culminating in a performance task which assesses the process as well as the final product. An end- of-first- semester examination will test the content of both practical and theory projects. An end of year performance will be the culmination of the year’s learning and assess both the process and their performance.
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