Dance

Our vision:

The Dance department aims to create lessons that will inspire and motivate all our students. Dance is a powerful and expressive subject, which encourages students to develop their creative, physical, emotional and intellectual capacity, whatever their previous experience in the subject. At William Edward’s we recognise the role of dance in young people’s lives and students will study a range of dance styles and style fusions. Students will also study a range of professional works, which will develop their ability to critically appraise professional dance works and provide a springboard for engaging in practical tasks. These skills are also transferrable to other areas of life and subjects within the school. In Dance, students have the opportunity to experience peer-mentoring, working with students in other years. This will enable them to be coached by older students in KS3 giving them the experience of working with older choreographers and in school productions. If students opt to take GCSE Dance they will mentor younger students which will enable them to work on their leadership and coaching skills. These skills are not only essential for adulthood and the work place, but they also help with enriching a young person’s experience both in and outside of school. Additionally in Dance we support PSHE themes through topic exploration and discussions. At the very core of our department is our widely experienced staff (including ex-professional performers) who between them have a wealth of knowledge and interests, allowing for a diverse and challenging curriculum. Pupils will have the opportunity to explore a variety of stimuli (for example; art, music and props) as well as take part in performances both in school and at external venues. We also encourage pupils to reflect on their learning through feedback and discussions to develop critical and reflective thinkers to help prepare them for the next stage of their lives.

We see our key objectives as:

Providing students with a platform to express themselves creatively.
Providing students with key industry skills they will need for the working world (for example, teamwork, leadership and creative thinking)
Providing students with opportunities to experience peer mentoring and coaching.
Providing students with the technical, physical, expressive and mental skills they need to execute a dance performance.

As a department, we believe that Dance is important to a student’s programme of study for a number of reasons:

Dance teaches students to work collaboratively and creatively.
Students work practically to explore a range of themes linked to PSHE.
Dance can enrich a student’s experience both in the classroom and in other areas of life helping them to express themselves whilst paying attention to their physical health.

There are ‘golden threads’, which run through our curriculum in Dance:

Choreography

Choreography allows the students to ‘create’ and use their own imagination, research and artistic skills to develop something original. The will focus on action, space, dynamics, relationships, structuring devices, aural setting and choreographic devices. This area of the curriculum is the creative challenge.

Performance

Performance skills are separated into physical, technical and mental skills. Students will work on their flexibility, strength, alignment, stamina and much more during lessons. They will also learn to perform in a way, which is stylistically correct, and perform their routines with confidence. Students will also understand ways to improve their mental skills both in rehearsal and for performance. This is the area of the curriculum is the physical challenge.

Appreciation

Appreciation allows students to be inspired by works both old and new from a variety of different cultures and dance styles. They will also understand the terminology and physics behind safe dance practice and be able to reflect and evaluate both their own and others performances. This area of the curriculum is the mental challenge.

These golden threads re not only important for a student’s understanding in Dance but they are relevant for KS3/4/5 and beyond into the dance industry. They underpin everything we do in lessons and allow us to be flexible when it comes to our approach.

5 Year Curriculum

The dance journey as this school spans over five years. In year 7 they start with performance, we then add the choreography layer in year 8 and then again with appreciation in year 9. By the time students reach year 10 they have a secure knowledge and understanding of the golden threads. They will also have all had the opportunity for out of classroom learning by being encouraged to participate in shows, performances and extra-curricular. During year 10 and 11, if students opt to take dance then the golden strands are blended together and the students develop creative performances alongside their theoretical study as part of an enriching curriculum.