Dance
For Years 9, 10 and 11 Dance
Dance is a vital part of every known culture throughout time, it is a tool for physical expression, a device to tell story, express emotionally, solve creative problems and think collaboratively. It is a distinct form of nonverbal communication that uses the body as an instrument of expression. Dance helps build life skills such as creative thinking, self-expression and collaboration with a wide range of people. It is a safe environment where students can express creatively and think imaginatively to find their own personal style. Dance offers an exciting practical opportunity to build the technique and skills appropriate to a range of styles, such as Jazz, Musical Theatre, HipHop and Contemporary Dance. The aim of the Dance course is to provide students with performance experiences that encourage them to develop skills in three areas, performance, composition and appreciation.
Students will have the opportunity to work in our new Dance studio space equipped with a sprung floor, ballet bars, mirrors and a change room.
When taking Dance, students are encouraged to participate actively in the School’s co-curricular Dance program, use their skills in the annual school Musical, as well as showcase their work at events such as Winter Playhouse and Barker goes Broadway.
Contact
Dance Coordinator: Claire Yeomans
Email: cyeomans@barker.nsw.edu.au
Year 9
Dance
The overarching goal of Year 9 Dance is to develop confidence and understanding through performance based assessment. Dance provides the opportunity for students to build the technique and skills appropriate to a range of Dance styles.
Year 9 Dance is a complete course that explores three areas, performance, composition, and appreciation. It is not a prerequisite foe entry into the Year 10 Drama Course. However, it is regarded as invaluable preparation for Senior Dance.
Areas studied:
The Dancing World – Dance Technique and Development
Students are provided with theoretical and practical tasks to learn and experience the development of dance. They learn about the significance of social and cultural dance as well as the historical development of techniques such as Classical Ballet, Jazz, Musical Theatre and Modern dance through studying influential dance pioneers. The practical lessons introduce students to class structure. And allow them to physically explore their theoretical learning.
Composition
Students are introduced to the process of developing a dance as a work of art. They engage in various improvisation tasks and learn to create sequences of movement through expanding on motif/s and manipulating the elements of dance. This unit also provides students with the opportunity to create a dance work for more than one dancer and/or explore dance film.
Australian Dance
Students learn to critique Dance as an artform, as an expression of time and place. They investigate the history of Aboriginal dance in Australia, from traditional styles to contemporary and Aboriginal Dance fusions as seen at Bangarra. They will study a performance work from Bangarra and collaborate with students from Ngarralingayil Barker in Wollombi and work in groups to create a dance sequence based on shared Australian stories.
Safe Dance Performance
This unit delves deeper into the practices of safe dance allowing students to have a greater understanding of their own limitations and capabilities. Technique classes are devised to accommodate all abilities, where levels are provided for different skills. Students learn to manipulate movements to suit their individual abilities working within correct technique and SMART dance practice. Students learn about anatomy in relation to dance movements, dance specific injuries and ways to prevent or manage them.
Assessment Structure
The Dancing World – Group Presentation and Workbook
Composition – Duo Composition and Workbook
Safe Dance Performance – Individual Performance and Interview
Year 10
Through a combination of practical and theoretical study Year 10 Dance students develop skills in performance, composition and appreciation learning how to create engaging performances through acquiring appropriate dance skill and technique. The Year 10 course helps build a solid foundation for those contemplating Dance for the HSC, for those wanting to enter careers in teaching, performance arts and those who want to foster their confidence and dance skills.
Students may study Year 10 Dance without having previously taken it in Year 9.
Course Outline
Passion for Performance
Students apply performance quality, perform dance skills and critique dance as an artform – with a particular look at the history/ development of Alvin Ailey’s work ‘Cry’. They interpret the dance work and write about it alongside a contemporary performance.
Music and Dance Composition
A composition unit learnt alongside Yr10 Music, whereby they explore the way music and dance can be used together. They look at applying elements of dance to perform their work by improvising, selecting and refining movement to communicate an idea.
Contemporary Dance Foundations
Students learn the contemporary dance foundations in this unit with a particular focus on body skills, anatomy, locomotor, and non-locomotor combinations to improve their performance technique. They apply the elements of dance to their own performance and analyse the safe dance practice used.
Dance for Time and Place
Students explore in groups what site specific dance looks like, they study the works of Sue Healy and Pina Bausch and explore what it looks like for Dance to function as a flash mob, protest, sport entertainment and film. In groups they create their own site-specific performance.
Assessment Structure
Passion for Performance – Group Performance and Workbook
Music and Dance Composition – Duo Dance Composition and Workbook
Contemporary Dance Foundations – Solo Performance and Interview
Dance for Time and Place – Written Response
Year 11
Year 11 Dance offers students a practical opportunity to build on their performance skills by refining their performance quality and technique. Students study three inter-related components: Performance, Composition and Appreciation of Dance. They engage with these components through practical and theoretical experience.
It is not a prerequisite for entry into the Preliminary course to have studied Dance in Year 9 and 10, however doing so provides students with a chance to grow a solid foundation in preparation for the Prelim and HSC course.
Content Areas:
Dance Technique and Performance Quality
Students participate in regular ballet classes to assist with their technique development. They study the anatomical structure and learn body skills to execute a performance using Safe Dance Practice.
Dance Communication – Creating a Composition
They practically apply their composition and performance skills by creating an original composition that showcases their use of the elements of dance and motif development.
Dance Analysis
Students build on their foundation of Australian Dance by studying ‘Mathinna’ by Bangarra in depth, learning about the socio-historic content in which the dance exists and how to critically evaluate the dance work.
Assessment Structure
Creating a Performance Work - Group Composition in preparation for an Individual Performance and Interview
Dance Analysis - A written essay that analyses Bangarra’s Dance work ‘Mathianna’
Creating a Composition and Written Examination - Individual Composition that showcases motif development and a formal examination on the topics of study.