The Saint Martin’s Dance curriculum is designed for students to express themselves in a safe environment. The main focus of teaching and learning is to encourage the free use of creativity and imagination, through exploration of movement and expression.
The purpose of the Dance Curriculum is to ensure that students can perform, choreograph and critically appreciate the work of professional dance practitioners and their own work. Students are provided with the opportunity to perform in a variety of different styles (from contemporary and ballet to jazz and hip-hop), to develop their versatility as a performer. This journey will encourage students to become independent thinkers, who will be able to create original dance work and critically analyse professional and non-professional repertoire.
Through their dance education at Saint Martin’s, students will develop many transferable skills including: confidence, leadership, and the ability to self-manage and collaborate effectively with their peers. We aim to equip our students with the necessary skills and resilience to succeed in a career within the Performing Arts industry, however the skills developed in dance can also be valuable, transferable skills that can be applied to any career path.
The Dance department encourage students to pursue a healthy active lifestyle. Our students are taught about nutrition, injury prevention, how to improve physical and mental skills through a variety of exercises. Dance has a wide range of physical and mental health benefits including: increased fitness levels, stronger bones and muscles and reduced stress levels.
At Saint Martin’s we strive to make dance accessible to all. We aim to instil a love for Performing Arts and a lifelong commitment to health and wellness.
KS4
AQA GCSE Dance is for students who have a theoretical interest in dance alongside exploring the art form practically.
The three year course includes both practical (60%) and theoretical elements (40%) of dance and consists of coursework and examination. Students will spend Years 9 and 10 building skills in the dance studio and classroom to equip them with the knowledge, technique and confidence to complete year 11 practical assessments and written examinations.
Course breakdown:
- Set solo performance (1 minute) – 15%
- Set Duet/trio performance choreographed by Mrs Harris (3 minutes) – 15%
- Own choreography (2 minutes) – 30%
- AQA theory paper (1 hour 3 minutes) – 40%
KS4
AQA GCSE Dance is for students who have a theoretical interest in dance alongside exploring the art form practically.
The three year course includes both practical (60%) and theoretical elements (40%) of dance and consists of coursework and examination. Students will spend Years 9 and 10 building skills in the dance studio and classroom to equip them with the knowledge, technique and confidence to complete year 11 practical assessments and written examinations.
Course breakdown:
- Set solo performance (1 minute) – 15%
- Set Duet/trio performance choreographed by Mrs Harris (3 minutes) – 15%
- Own choreography (2 minutes) – 30%
- AQA theory paper (1 hour 3 minutes) – 40%
Aswell as exploring and performing choreography set by AQA the students are also required to create their own work from a stimulus, such as images, poetry newspaper articles, an emotion or a storyline/theme. In doing this, students will have to engage with an issue sensitively and maturely, encouraging students to explore their own beliefs and understand perspectives of others. Students are assessed on the ideas that they contribute to the process of choreographing dance and have to produce written log to track their progress. This self-reflection allows students to be more open to the challenges the face within their learning and promotes independence and resilience.
The theory element of the course is split into 3 sections (A, B and C). Working towards their theory exam students will learn and study:
- Physical and expressive skills
- Technical and mental skills
- Safe working practices
- Nutrition and hydration
- Choreographic skills and processes
- 6 dance anthologies (A Linha Curva, Within her eyes, Emancipation of Expressionism, Artificial things, Shadows and Infra).
- Live theatre performances
- Annual trip to London to explore ‘the day in the life of a dancer’. Includes visit to Royal Ballet, Pineapple studio’s and to watch a West End show.
- Dance competition experiences (Regional and National level)
- Dance performance experiences (both in and out of school)
- School musical
- KS3 dance club
- KS4 intervention
